8b 
ND 
2930 
.M67 
1914 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2014 


https://archive.org/details/studiesineastchrOOmore 


'^HE  volumes  of  the  University  of  Michigan 
Studies  are  published  by  authority  of  the 
Executive  Board  of  the  Graduate  Depart- 
ment of  the  University  of  Michigan.  A  list 
of  the  volumes  thus  far  published  or  ar- 
ranged for  is  given  at  the  end  of  this  volume. 


HUMANISTIC  SERIES 
VOLUME  XII 


STUDIES  IN  EAST  CHRISTIAN  AND 
ROMAN  ART 


PART  I.    EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 
IN  THE  FREER  COLLECTION 


•Tl 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  ■  BOSTON  •  CHICAGO  •  DALLAS 
ATLANTA  •   SAN  FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Limited 

LONDON  •   BOMBAY  •  CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 


THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Ltd. 
TORONTO 


Plate  I. 


Sr.  John  Climacls 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 

IN  THE 

FREER  COLLECTION 


BY 

CHARLES  R.  MOREY 

PRINCETON  UNIVERSITY 


Nei33  fork 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

LONDON:  MACMILLAN  AND  COMPANY 
I914 

All  rights  reser-ved 


Copyright,  1914, 
By  FRANCIS  W.  KELSEY. 

Set  up  and  electrotyped.    Published  October,  191 4. 


Nortnooli  PrtsB 
J.  S.  Gushing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


THE  GETTY  C^i^T^K 
IIBRAW 


MY  MOTHER 


PREFACE 


In  the  preparation  of  the  Studies  presented  in  the  following 
pages  I  have  been  indebted  to  many  for  kind  assistance.  First  of 
all,  I  am  under  deep  obligation  to  Mr.  Charles  L.  Freer  for  afford- 
ing every  facility  in  the  use  of  the  material  in  his  collection  and  for 
his  generous  support  of  the  publication.  M.  Charles  Diehl,  of  the 
Sorbonne,  read  the  Studies  in  proof  and  made  valuable  sugges- 
tions. Dr.  E.  C.  Richardson  of  Princeton  University,  and  Professor 
H.  A.  Sanders  of  the  University  of  Michigan,  assisted  in  the  solving 
of  palaeographical  difificulties.  The  extent  of  my  obligation  to 
Strzygowski,  Brockhaus,  Dalton,  and  other  masters  in  the  field  of 
East  Christian  art  may  be  inferred  from  the  number  of  citations  of 
their  contributions  in  the  notes  and  in  the  list  of  illustrations. 

The  colored  plates  and  heliotype  plates  in  this  volume  were 
made  by  The  Heliotype  Company,  of  Boston  ;  the  negatives  for 
plates  XI-XIII  were  prepared  by  Mr.  George  R.  Swain. 

CHARLES  R.  MOREY. 

Princeton,  New  Jersey, 
July,  1914. 


vii 


I 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

Two  Miniatures  from  a  Manuscript  of  St.  John  Climacus,  and  their 
Relation  to  Klimax  Iconography  : 

The  illustrated  manuscripts  of  the  Klimax   i 

Portrait  of  St.  John  Climacus   ^4 

Miniature  of  the  Heavenly  Ladder   ^7 

Eight  Miniatures  from  a  Manuscript  of  the  Gospels  : 

The  manuscript  containing  the  Miniatures   3^ 

Portraits  of  Mark  and  John   34 

The  Descent  from  the  Cross   4i 

The  Descent  into  Hell   45 

The  Doubting  of  Thomas   54 

Christ  and  the  Holy  Women    56 

Madonna  and  Saints                                           .        .        .        .        ■  58 

John  the  Baptist  and  the  Virgin  (?)   59 

Date  and  Value  of  the  Miniatures   59 

The  Painted  Covers  of  the  Washington  Manuscript  of  the  Gospels  : 

Covers  and  Painting     .....    63 

Portraits  of  the  Evangelists   66 

Date  and  Style   67 

Appendix  :  Libraries  containing  the  Facsimile  of  the  Washington  Man- 
uscript of  the  Four  Gospels   83 


ix 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PLATES 


Plates  I-X  are  colored. 


I. 

Portrait  of  St.  John  Climacus  ...... 

Frontispiece 

FACING  I'AGE 

II. 

Miniature  of  the  Heavenly  Ladder  ..... 

i6 

III. 

Portrait  of  St.  Mark  

.  34 

IV. 

Index  of  Selections  from  the  Gospel  of  Mark  . 

.  35 

V. 

Portrait  of  St.  John  ........ 

.       .  38 

VI. 

The  Descent  from  the  Cross  ...... 

.  39 

VII. 

The  Descent  into  Hell  ....... 

.  48 

VIII. 

The  Doubting  of  Thomas  ...... 

.  49 

IX. 

Christ  and  the  Holy  Women  ...... 

.        .  56 

X. 

Madonna  and  Saints  ....... 

.  57 

XI. 

Covers  of  the  Washington  manuscript  of  the  Gospels  with  the 

Chain  62 

XII. 

First  Cover,  with  portraits  of  Matthew  and  John 

.  66 

XIII. 

Second  Cover,  with  portraits  of  Luke  and  Mark 

.        .  76 

ILLUSTRATIONS  IN  THE  TEXT 


FIGURE  PAGE 

1.  Miniatures  of  a  Klimax  manuscript  in  the  Vatican  Library:  Vat.  394 

(from  D'Agincourt,  Histoire  de  P Art)     ......  4 

2.  Miniature  of  a  Klimax  manuscript  in  the  Vatican  Library:  Vat.  394 

(from  Beissel,  Vatikanische  Miniatitren)         .....  5 

3.  St.  John  Climacus.    Miniature  of  a  Klimax  manuscript  in  the  Bibli- 

otheque  Nationale  :  Paris,  Coisl.  88  (from  a  photograph)      .       .  7 

4.  Humility  and  Indifference.    Miniatures  of  a  Klimax  manuscript  in 

the  Vatican  Library:  Vat.  1754  (from  Tikkanen,  Fine  illustrierte 
Klimax-Handschrift)      .........  8 

5.  Penitent  Monks.    Miniature  of  a  Klimax  manuscript  in  the  Vatican 

Library:   Vat.    1754  (from  Tikkanen,  Fine  illustrierte  Klimax- 
Handschrift)  .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .  .10 

xi 


xii 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


FIGURE  PAGE 

6.  Penitent  Monks.    Miniature  of  a  Klimax  manuscript  in  the  Vatican 

Library:   Vat.  1754   (from  Tikkanen,  Eine  illtistrierte  KUmax- 
Hamhchrift)  .        .        .        .        .        .        ■        .        .        .  .11 

7.  Gluttony.    Miniature  of  a  Klimax  manuscript  in  the  Bibliotheque 

Nationale :  Paris,  Coisl.  263  (from  a  photograph).       .       .  .12 

8.  The  Soul  at  the  top  of  the  Heavenly  Ladder.    Miniature  of  a  Klimax 

manuscript  in  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale:  Paris  1069  (from  a 
photograph)  .        .       .       .       .       .       .       .       .       .  -13 

9.  The  Heavenly  Ladder.    Miniature  of  a  Klimax  manuscript  in  the 

Imperial  Library  at  Vienna:  Vienna  207  (from  a  photograph)      .  15 

10.  Jacob's  Vision.    Licised  design  on  the  bronze  doors  of  the  cathedral 

of  Monte  Santangelo  (from  Schulz,  Deiikm'dler  dcr  Kunst  in  Unter- 
italieii)  ...        .........  19 

11.  Iconography  of  the  Ladder  Miniature  .       .       .       .       .       .  .21 

12.  The  Heavenly  Ladder.    Ikon  in  the  Likhatcheff  collection  at  St.  Peters- 

burg (from  Likhatcheff,  Matcriaiix  pour  riiistoire  tic  i'icoiiographie 
russe)    ............  23 

13.  Triptych  in  the  Museo  Cristiano  of  the  Vatican  (from  D'Agincourt, 

Histoire  de  I'' Art)  .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .  .24 

14.  Specimen  Text  from  a  Menaeum  in  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale,  dated 

112"]  (Ixom  OmoTit,  Fac-si)niies  des  matti/scrits  grecs)        ...  29 

15.  St.  Mark  writing  his  Gospel.    Miniature  of  the  Codex  Kossanensis 

(from  Gebhardt  and  Harnack,  Codex  purpureus  Rossanensis)         .  35 

16.  Christ,  St.  John,  and  St.  Matthew.    Reliefs  of  St.  Mark's  at  Venice 

(from  a  photograph)      .........  36 

17.  St.  Matthew  writing  his  Gospel.    Miniature  of  the  Durham  Book  (from 

Westwood,  Miniatures  and  Ornaments  of  Anglo-Saxon  and  Irish 
manuscripts")  .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .        .  -37 

18.  The  Crucifixion  and  the  Four  Evangelists.    Relief  of  a  sarcophagus  in 

S.  Zeno,  Verona  (from  a  photograph)    ......  38 

19.  Examples  of  the  Descent  from  the  Cross,  showing  the  evolution  of  its 

iconography  from  the  ninth  to  the  twelfth  century  (from  Rohault 

de  Fleury,  V Evangile)  .........  42 

20.  The  Descent  from  the  Cross.    Miniature  of  the  Melissenda  Psalter  in 

the  British  Museum  (from  Dalton,  Byzantine  Art  and  Archaeology)  43 

21.  The  Descent  from  the  Cross,  from  Duccio's  Altar-piece  (from  a  photo- 

graph)  44 

22.  The  Iconography  of  the  Descent  into  Hell   .....  46-47 

23.  The  Descent  into  Hell.    Fresco  in  S.  Maria  Antiqua,  Rome  (from 

Rushforth,  Santa  Maria  Antiqua)  .......  50 

24.  The  Descent  into  Hell.    Mosaic  in  the  Monastery  of  Daphni,  near 

Athens  (from  a  photograph)  .       .       .       .       .       .       .  -Si 

25.  Mosaic  in  St.  Mark's,  Venice.    Above,  the  Descent  into  Hell ;  below, 

Christ  and  the  Holy  Women  and  the  Doubting  of  Thomas  (from 

a  photograph)       .       .       .       .       .       .       .       .       .  -52 

26.  The  Descent  into  Hell.    Fresco  in  the  Peribleptos  church  at  Mistra 

(from  Millet,  Monuments  byzantins  de  Mistra)        •        •        •        •  53 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


xiii 


FIGURE 

27.  The  Descent  into  Hell.    Miniature  of  the  Melissenda  Psalter  in  the 

British  Museum  (from  Herbert,  Illutninated  Manuscripts) 

28.  Christ  and  the  Holy  Women.    Miniature  of  a  Gospel  in  the  Iviron 

monastery  on  Mt.  Athos  :  Iviron  5  (from  Brockhaus,  Die  Kmist  in 
den  Athos-k/'dstcrn)  ......... 

29.  The  Ascension.    Painting  in  Chapel  XVH  at  Bawit  (from  Comptes 

rendiis  de  1' Academic  des  Inscriptions  ct  Bc/ics-Lettres) 

30.  Three  Saints.    Wall-painting  in  Cell  F  at  Saqqara  (from  Quibell. 

H.xcavations  at  Sai/ijara)  ........ 

31.  The  Ascension.    Miniature  of  the  Gospel  of  Rabulas  (from  Cabrol, 

Dictionnaire  d'Arclicologic  cJirctiennc  ct  de  Lititrgie) 

32.  The  Ascension.    Relief  on  an  Early  Christian  oil-flask  at  Monza  (from 

Cabrol,  Dictionuaire  d'Arc/ico logic  ciirctienne  et  de  Liturgie) 

33.  Miniatures  of  a  History  of  the  World  in  the  Golenisheff  collection  at 

St.  Petersburg  (from  Strzygowski,  Eine  alcxandnnische  Weltchronik) 

34.  The  Nativity  and  the  Baptism.    Painted  wooden  panel  in  the  Golen- 

isheff collection  at  St.  Petersburg  (from  Strzygowski,  Eine  ale.x- 
andrinischc  Wcltchronil<:)  ......... 


I.  TWO  MINIATURES  FROM  A  MANUSCRIPT  OF 
ST.  JOHN  CLIMACUS,  AND  THEIR  RELA- 
TION TO  KLIMAX  ICONOGRAPHY 


i.  The  Illustrated  Manuscripts  of  the  Klimax 

The  author  of  the  work  of  which  Mr.  Freer's  miniatures  are 
illustrations  was  a  personage  of  great  distinction  in  the  history  of 
the  Eastern  church.  Born  about  the  year  525,  he  entered  the 
cloister  on  Mt.  Sinai  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  but  the  desire  of  the 
hermit's  life  was  strong  within  him,  and  he  soon  left  the  monastery 
for  a  cave  at  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  where  he  lived  in  solitude 
for  forty  years.  At  the  end  of  this  period  he  was  persuaded  by 
the  monks  of  his  old  monastery  to  return  to  them  as  their  abbot, 
and  in  this  office  he  continued,  acquiring  great  reputation  for  his 
piety  and  learning,  until  shortly  before  his  death,  when  he  again 
retired  to  a  hermit's  cell.    He  died  about  600. 

To  his  name  Johannes  the  Greeks  added  several  epithets, 
calling  him  Sinaita  from  his  monastery  on  Mt.  Sinai,  and  Scholas- 
ticus  in  allusion  to  his  learning.  But  their  favorite  name  for  him 
was  6  Trj<;  /cXt/iiaK'o?,  '  he  of  the  Ladder,'  alluding  to  the  Klimax,  or 
'  Heavenly  Ladder,'  which  St.  John  wrote  for  the  guidance  of  his 
monks,  and  to  which  he  owes  his  fame.  The  Greek  genitive  was 
Latinized  into  Climacus,  and  Johannes  Climacus  is  his  traditional 
appellation  in  the  West. 

The  Klimax  was  written  at  the  request  of  a  friend  and  admirer, 
also  called  Johannes,  who  was  abbot  of  the  neighboring  monastery 
of  Raithu,  about  fifty  kilometres  south  of  Sinai.  It  is  a  treatise 
on  the  evolution  of  the  consecrated  monastic  life,  intended  as 
a  guide  to  the  earnest  monk  in  the  attainment  of  ascetic  and 
spiritual  perfection.  The  work  is  divided  into  thirty  chapters 
or  "  rungs,"  corresponding  with  the  thirty  years  of  the  secret  life 
of  Christ;  it  commences  with  a  homily  on  "  Withdrawal  from  the 
World,"  and  ends  with  one  on  "  Charity."    A  characteristic  list  of 


2 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


titles  to  the  thirty  £-rac/?(s  or  "  rungs"  is  that  given  in  Cod.  Theol. 
Gr.  207  in  the  Imperial  Library  of  Vienna,  as  follows: 


J 

16. 

Ji  ^pt    \fJL/\u,pyV^tU.S  •     V— UlU.Ci  lllll^   1-«U\C  Ul 

Ui£l.tVci,l    ilL.'Ill    111^     VV  WllV^i 

TVI 0  n  p  \' 

TrtfJI,     U.7ryjUU  TTCil/ttClS  ■       V_.wlll_Cl  111  ll^     1  do 

1 7 

TTCpl  oLKT7jp.oo"W7j^  '•  Conccming  Poverty. 

18. 

Tlx.pL  (XviJiLUl/TlULU.'s  •    V~-L>1H_CI  lllUi;  lUSCllol" 

1 

J- 

bility. 

1  PCI  If  1  n  (T 

led  V  ill^  • 

19. 

Trept  i^ctAp.oj8t<xs  I    Concerning  Psalm- 

A 

4- 

Trfni  1  iirri  w  1     c  •    \   c\  rir*PT"nir>cr  II  MPri  1  p  n  r**^ 
TT^fJl.   VTTU.I^Uf^S  •     V—Ulll-Cl  111  11^    \_/ UCU IC liL.C  • 

singing. 

r 

3- 

TTCi^i     II  fTtti/nific  ■     tonpprnino'  l^piipnt- 

TTtpi     IXypUTrVUXS  •      v-'U  IICCI  11  Jllg  VVtllVClUl" 

6. 

TTCjot  jjLvyjiXTj'i  Oolvoltov  '.    CTonccrnin^  tlic 

2  I . 

Trem  neiXiitc  '    r^nripprni  n  tr  T'liniHifv 

Remembrance  of  Death. 

22. 

Trept  /cevoSo^t'us  :  Concerning  Vainglory. 

7- 

Trept  TrivOov^  :  Concerning  Sorrow. 

23- 

Trepi  otjJtrecDS  :  Concerning  Self-conceit. 

8. 

TTCpl  aopyrj(TLa<;  :  Concerning  Meekness. 

24. 

Trept   aKaKia; :    Concerning  Guileless- 

9- 

Trepl  afxvrjo-tKaKtaf; :  Concerning  Forgiv- 

ness. 

ingness. 

25. 

Trept  TaTr€ivocf)pocrvvq<;  :  Concerning  Hu- 

lO. 

Trepl  Tov  p.r]  Kpivetv :  Concerning  Judg- 

mility. 

ing  Not. 

26. 

Trept  ^laKpiaew'i :    Concerning  Discre- 

11. 

Trept  o-tcoTT^?  :  Concerning  Silence. 

tion. 

12. 

TTCpl  i//€vSov?  :  Concerning  Falsehood. 

27- 

Trepi  Trpoatv^<; :  Concerning  Prayer. 1 

'3- 

Trept  d/cr/Stus  :  Concerning  Indifference. 

28. 

Trept  ri<jv)(La<;  :  Concerning  Quiet. 

14. 

Trept  v7j<TTeta<; :  Concerning  Fasting. 

29. 

Trept  oTra^etas:  Concerning  Tranquillity. 

15- 

Trept  dyvetas  :  Concerning  Chastity. 

30. 

Trept  dyaTTT^s  :  Concerning  Charity. 

The  Klimax  enjoyed  a  remarkable  popularity  during  the  Middle 
Ages,  and  its  fame  was  by  no  means  confined  to  the  East.  We 
find  ti-anslations  into  Syriac,  Modern  Greek,  Latin,  Italian,  Span- 
ish, French  and  Slavonic,  and  a  belated  English  version  is  to  be 
found  in  the  library  of  Cambrai,  entitled  "A  Spiritual  Lader,  or 
Stepes  to  Ascend  up  to  Heaven,"  and  dating  in  the  seventeenth 
century. 

While  manuscripts  of  the  text  of  the  "  Ladder"  are  abundant, 
those  adorned  with  miniatures  are  comparatively  rare ;  illustra- 
tion, moreover,  is  generally  confined  to  a  simple  drawing  of 
the  "  Ladder,"  usually  at  the  end  of  the  manuscript,  in  which 
sometimes  the  rungs  are  labelled  with  the  titles  of  the  chapters, 
thus  constituting  a  picturesque  table  of  contents  (Fig.  9,  p.  15). 
The  following  table  gives  a  list  of  the  illustrated  Greek  Klimax 
codices,  eliminating  those  whose  illustration  is  limited  to  the 
"ladder"  drawing  mentioned  above,  or  to  illuminated  initials  and 
borders : 

^  Gradus  27  and  28  appear  in  inverse  order  in  most  manuscripts,  27  being  on  "Quiet" 
and  28  on  Prayer." 


\ 


KLIMAX  MINIATURES  3 


Datb 

Described  bv 

Abbreviation 

XI  Century 

Vaticanus  gr.  394. 

Beissel,  /  'atikanische  Mniiaturcn.  pp. 

24-25  (Taf.  XIV  b). 
D  Agmcourt,  Hutoire  ac  I  Art.  v  .  pi. 

LII. 

Labarte,  Hist,  aes  .-Irts  /iiattstruis, 

T  T  T  AO 
111,   p.  00. 

Vat.  394. 

Pans,  Bibliotneque  Nationale. 

Bordier,  Desa-iptton  des  petntures,  etc. 

"Wt       *        ~-     •    1  net 

Pans  Coisl.  88. 

Coislin  88. 

dans  les  inss.  grecs  de  la  Bibliotlitqne 
Nationale,  Index,  pp.  318  and  320. 

Milan,  Biblioteca  Ambrosiana 

Martmi  &  Bassi,  Cat.  cod.  grace,  hibl. 

Ambr.  107. 

gr.  107. 

Ainorosianae,  1.  p.  120. 

XI  OR  XII  Century 

Vaticanus  gr.  1754. 

Tikkanen,  Acta  Soc.  iicient.  hennicae, 
XIX,  1893. 

Vat.  1754. 

XII  Century 

Freer  miniatures. 

Sinai  Library,  no.  418. 

Kondakori,  Travels  on  Sinai  (Russian). 

Sinai  418. 

rans,  rSiDJ.  iNat.  1150. 

Bordier,  op.  cit.,  p.  203. 

Paris  1 1 58. 

Pans,  Bibl.  Nat.  Coislin  263. 

Bordier,  op.  cit..  Index,  p.  318. 

Paris  Coisl.  263. 

Paris,  Bibl.  Nat.  1069. 

Bordier.  op.  cit..  Inventaire,  p.  39. 

Paris  1069. 

XIV  Century 

Mt.  Athos,  Stavroniketa  mon- 

Lambros, KardAoyos  tujv  Iv  ruts  lit-li- 

Stavroniketa  50. 

astery,  no.  50. 

\io6i]KaL<;  TOV  dyiov  6pov<;  'EAAr^viKcov 
KwSiKdJv,  I.  p.  78,  no.  915.  50. 

XV  Century 

Milan,  Bibl.  Ambrosiana  gr. 

Martini  &  Bassi,  op.  cit..  I.  p.  460. 

Ambr.  387.  i. 

387.  I. 

Vienna,    Imperial  Library, 

De  Nessel,  Cat.  cod.  grace,  bibl.  Cacs. 

Vienna  207. 

Codex  gr.  207. 

Vind.,  I.  p.  306. 

The  first  manuscript  in  the  list,  Vat.  394,  is  also  the  best 
known.  A  number  of  the  miniatures  are  reproduced  in  Fig.  i, 
and  one  of  them  on  a  larger  scale  in  Fig.  2.  The  latter  is  a  fair 
sample  of  the  scenes,  showing  considerable  originality  of  concep- 
tion, and  extraordinary  fineness  of  modelling  in  the  faces  in  spite 
of  the  diminutive  scale,  the  manuscript  measuring  only  24  x  17  cm. 
Altogether  the  work  is  worthy  of  its  period,  although  the  eleventh 
century  witnessed  the  production  of  some  of  the  best  of  Byzantine 
painting. 

The  miniature  reproduced  in  Fig.  2  adorns  the  beginning  of 
the  nineteenth  "  rung "  (Trept  i//aX|Ltaj8ia?),  and  the  text  below  is 
arranged  in  two  columns.  The  title  of  the  first  column  reads, 
"  Concerning  Sleep  and  Prayer  during  the  Chanting  of  Psalms," 


4  EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 

and  the  beginning  of  the  second  column  speaks  of  "fasting,  from 
which  the  wearied  body  (seeks  to  recuperate)  by  sleep."  This 
gives  us  the  clew  to  the  meaning  of  the  little  scene  at  the  extreme 
right  where  Prayer  (17  irpocrevxv)  chastises  prostrate  Sleep  (6  vvfoq). 
Sleep  is  black,  as  are  all  the  "  Vices  "  of  this  graphic  allegory.  In 
the  central  scene  the  author  of  the  Klimax  —  duly  labelled  'the 


FIG.  1.    Miniatures  of  a  Klimax  Manuscript  in  the  Vatican  Library:  Vat.  394. 


Upper  Row :  to  left,  St.  John  preaching  to  his  flock,  and  pointing  to  a  bust  of  Christ  in  the  heavens 
above;  middle,  above,  a  monk  renouncing  "  Life  "  (represented  as  a  nude  male  figure  with  wheels  on  his 
feet)  and  his  family;  middle,  below,  scenes  representing  "ploughing"  and  an  allegory;  to  right,  a  monk 
starting  on  his  wanderings,  under  the  guidance  of  "  Home-leaving,"  and  a  sleeping  monk  tempted  by 
demons  (in  the  form  of  angels)  with  dreams  of  his  abandoned  family. 

Middle  Row  :  to  left,  monks  praying  in  a  cave  ;  to  right,  the  burial  of  a  holy  anchorite. 

Lower  Row :  to  left,  "  Humility  "  encouraging  a  monk  to  climb  the  Ladder,  while  a  Vice  holds  him 
by  the  foot;  in  middle  to  left,  an  angel  encouraging  a  monk  who  is  climbing  the  Ladder,  below  which 
stands  St.  John,  pointing  to  the  bound  and  prostrate  figure  of  a  Vice  ;  in  middle  to  right,  St.  John  teaching 
two  monks,  and  a  Virtue  expelling  two  Vices ;  to  right,  a  monk  in  prayer  upon  the  Ladder,  standing  on 
the  prostrate  form  of  "  Evil  Speech." 

holy  John  '  6  a(yio9)  ^l(t){(ivvr)<;)  —  sits  upon  a  throne  in  front  of  an 
architectural  background  in  inverse  perspective,  and  instructs  four 
monks.  To  the  left  an  elaborate  allegory  unfolds  itself.  We  see  a 
luckless  monk  pulled  headlong  from  the  Ladder  by  the  Vices  which 
he  has  allowed  to  get  the  upper  hand.    Arrogance  (17  virepiqcfiavLa) 


KLIMAX  MINIATURES 


5 


grasps  his  left  foot,  Sleep  (6  vtti^o?)  clasps  him  about  the  middle, 
Vainglory  {KevoSo^ia)  runs  up  from  the  right  to  bear  a  hand  in  his 
downfall.  Gluttony  (17  yaa-TpLixapyia)  pulls  at  his  left  arm,  and 
False  Reverence  {xpevBevXa^Lo)  at  his  right,  while  Desire  (6  dvyioq) 
has  fastened  himself  to  his  hair.  A  black  and  naked  imp  labelled 
'  Satiety '  (6  Kopoi)  sits  on  the  ground  below,  lifting  a  cup  in  his 


A  : 


i    Jt  •  Try  o  C  f^l-ly  -  •         ■    ■  <.  'I!  ' 


FIG. 


Miniature  of  a  Klimax  Manuscript  in  the  Vatican  Lii;kakv  :  Vat.  394. 


To  Left:  Vices  pulling  a  monk  from  the  ladder;  below,  "Orthodoxy,"  the  "  Pit  of  Ignorance," 
"  Satiety,"  and  the  "  Rout  of  Goodly  Virtues."  To  Right :  St.  John  teaching  his  flock,  and  "  Prayer  " 
chastising  "  Sleep." 

right  hand.  Another  naked  figure  lies  in  a  cavern  to  the  left, 
which  bears  the  inscription  Xolkko^  dyi/wcrta?,  '  the  Pit  of  Ignorance,' 
and  by  way  of  contrast  to  his  pitiable  condition,  the  stately  figure 
of  an  ecclesiastic  rises  above  the  cave,  labelled  17  opdoSo^ia,  '  Ortho- 
do.xy.'  In  the  lower  right-hand  corner,  a  Vice  pushes  away  three 
Virtues.  Above  his  head  we  read  crwijOeLa  17  irov-qpa  'bad  com- 
pany,' and  above  the  group  of  virtues  is  the  inscription  Siw^is  tcjv 
KaXwv  dpeTwv,  'the  rout  of  goodly  virtues.'    This  by-play  therefore 


6 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


affords  a  fitting  title  to  the  whole  allegory:  "  Evil  communications 
corrupt  good  manners." 

The  other  miniatures  of  the  manuscript  are  largely  allegories 
of  the  same  sort,  varied  with  occasional  scenes  from  the  life  and 
teaching  of  St.  John.  A  noteworthy  survival  from  the  antique  is 
seen  in  one  of  them  (Fig.  i),  wherein  Life  (6  ^lo<;)  is  figured  as  a 
nude  man  striding  along  on  wheels,  a  type  which  is  clearly  derived 
from  the  Greek  conception  of  Katpo?  'Opportunity,'  and  is  paral- 
leled by  a  similar  figure  on  a  stone  parapet  in  the  cathedral  at 
Torcello,  dated  by  Cattaneo  in  1008.^ 

Paris  Coisl.  88  is  dated  by  Bordier  in  the  eleventh  century.  It 
contains  a  miniature  (Fig.  3)  representing  St.  John  seated  before 
his  monastery,  and  writing.  The  Heavenly  Ladder  rises  from 
the  top  of  the  monastery.  A  portrait  of  the  author  is  the  sole 
illustration  of  Ambr.  107. 

The  most  interesting  of  Klimax  manuscripts  is  easily  Vat.  1754, 
which  was  published  for  the  first  time  by  Tikkanen  in  the  Ac/a 
Societatis  Scientiarum  Fennicae  of  1893.'-  The  manuscript  con- 
sists of  195  leaves,  and  measures  21  x  16  cm.  The  first  miniature 
(fol.  i)  corresponds  with  the  ladder  drawing  which  often  accom- 
panies manuscripts  of  the  Klimax  and  serves  as  a  table  of  contents, 
each  rung  of  the  ladder  being  inscribed  with  the  title  of  its  partic- 
ular homily.  In  Vat.  1754,  however,  this  table  of  contents  takes 
a  unique  form.  Each  rung  is  here  illustrated  by  a  microscopic 
picture  (the  figures  are  but  12  mm.  in  height)  alluding  to  the  title, 
and  to  provide  room  for  this  original  treatment  the  ladder  bends 
round  the  page  in  the  form  of  a  horseshoe.  Tikkanen  finds  that 
these  little  scenes  show  the  "  uniformity  of  invention  common  to 
Klimax-illustrations,"  but  that  they  are  done  so  carefully  as  to 
rival  larger  miniatures  in  sureness  of  detail,  particularly  in  the 
drawing  of  the  face.  His  description  of  the  most  interesting  of 
the  pictures  is  here  summarized,  with  the  few  additional  comments 
that  seemed  necessary. 

^  Cattaneo,  H Archilecture  en  Italie  die  Vie  ait  Xle  Steele.  Trans,  by  Le  Monnier. 
1890,  p.  310,  fig.  166.  Cattaneo's  date  is  that  of  the  restoration  of  Torcello  cathedral 
by  Pietro  Orseolo  II,  Doge  of  Venice.  This  is  the  same  relief  that  figures  in  Baumeister, 
Denkinalcr,  II,  fig.  824.  and  was  mistaken  for  a  late  Roman  work  by  Curtius,  Arch.  Zeii., 
1875,  p.  6.  Such  revivals  of  Hellenic  motifs  are  very  common  in  the  middle  period  of 
Byzantine  art.  For  other  representations  of  Life  in  Byzantine  art,  see  Ualton,  Byzantine 
Art  and  Archaeology,  p.  158,  and  A.  Muiioz,  VArte,  IX,  p.  212  ff. 

^  This  publication  is  somewhat  inaccessible,  and  I  have  therefore  given  Tikkanen's 
description  and  critique  of  the  manuscript  in  detail. 


KLIMAX  MINIATURES 


7 


First  Rung  (Concerning  Retirement  and  the  Renunciation  of 
the  World)  :    An  angel  pointing  out  Christ  to  a  boy. 

Third  Rung  (Concerning  the  Leaving  of  Home,  and  Concern- 
ing Dreams) :  A  sleeping  monk  and  another  monk  leaving  him  and 
starting  on  his  pilgrimage.    In  Vat.  394  this  scene  is  treated  in 


FIG.  3.    St.  John  Climacus.    Miniature  ov  a  Ki.imax  Maxuscrii'T 

I.\  THE   BiBLIOTHEQUK  NaTIONALE:   PaRIS  CoISL.  88. 

St.  John  w  riting  the  Khmax;  in  the  background,  his  monastery  of  Mt.  Sinai,  from  which  the 

Ladder  rises  to  Heaven. 

more  allegorical  fashion  (Fig.  i),  in  that  the  attention  of  the  wan- 
dering monk  is  directed  by  a  personification  of  Home-leaving 
(17  ^evLTeia)  toward  his  sleeping  brother.  The  elderly  man  and 
woman  to  the  right  of  the  sleeper  and  the  two  youthful  forms  to 
the  left  doubtless  represent  the  family  of  the  monk,  while  the 


8 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


winged  figure  bending  above  him,  and  the  other  pulling  at  his 
garments,  are  not  angels,  but  devils.  This  is  clear  from  the  con- 
text of  the  second  part  of  the  third  homily,  in  which  we  read  that 
the  monk  must  beware  of  the  dreams  which  come  to  him  after 
leaving  home  and  friends,  for  '  the  demons  will  see  fit  to  disturb  us 
in  dreams  by  showing  us  our  loved  ones  in  lamentation,  or  dying 
or  grieving  for  us,  and  in  trouble.  .  .  .  They  often  transform 
themselves  into  an  angel  of  light  and  the  shape  of  the  martyrs,  etc'  ^ 
The  same  tempting  of  a  sleeping  monk  appears  in  Sinai  418. 

Sixth  Rung  (Concerning  the  Remembrance  of  Death) :  A 
monk  standing  in  melancholy  meditation  by  a  grave.  The  cor- 
responding miniature  in  Vat.  394  is 
not  finished  (fol.  51).  In  the  Sinai 
Klimax,  the  grave  is  replaced  by  a 
sarcophagus  containing  the  bodies  of 
four  dead  youths,  a  motif  which  re- 
minds one  of  the  French  "  Dit  des 
trois  morts  et  des  trois  vifs  "  of  the 
thirteenth  century,  which  reappears  in 
the  well-known  Triumph  of  Death  in 
the  Campo  Santo  at  Pisa. 

Seventh  Rung  (Sorrow) :  A  monk 
seated  in  an  attitude  of  melancholy. 

Eleventh    Rung   (Silence)  :  A 
seated  monk.    In  Vat.  394  the  con- 
cept is  expressed  in  characteristic  fash- 
ion by  a  personification,  a  maiden  in 
classic  costume  pointing  to  her  mouth. 
Thirteenth  Rung  (Indifference):  A  small  demon  aims  an  arrow 
at  a  seated  monk  (Fig.  4).    In  Vat.  394  (fol.  71  verso)  Indifference 
has  seized  the  foot  of  a  monk  who  stands  on  the  Ladder,  but  in 
the  next  scene  lies  bound  at  the  feet  of  St.  John. 

Fourteenth  Rung  (Gluttony) :  A  monk  sitting  at  a  table  and 
drinking  from  a  goblet  (compare  the  miniature  in  Paris  Coisl. 
263,  Fig.  7).  Beside  him  stands  a  cooking  apparatus  on  a  hearth 
of  masonry. 


FIG.  4.  Humility  and  Indiffer- 
ence. Miniatures  of  a  Klimax 
Manuscript  in  the  Vatican 
Library  :  Vat.  1754. 


1  Scala  Paradisi,  Migne,  Patr.  Graec.  88,  col.  670  &  672  :  .  .  .  Tore  Xonrov  ol  SaLfji.ove<; 
8t  ivvTTVLoiv  Oopvjitiv  SoKifxaaovrnv  rifJia.^,  tovs  otxetovs  eavTwv  rjfjilv  VTrohuKvvvr(.<;  '  7/  kott- 
rofjiivov;  rj  Oin'jaKOVTw;,  rj  VTrkp  rj/xwv  KaTe^ofxevovi;,  koI  crLVOfxevovi  .  .  .  Eis  dyycXov 
<^a)Tos  Koi  (uipTvpwv  eiSos  TroAAuKt?  ixeTaa^rjfxaTL^ovTai,  k.t.X. 


KLIMAX  MINIATURES 


9 


Fifteenth  Rung  (Fornication) :  A  demon  shooting  at  a  woman 
who  kneels  before  a  standing  monk ;  the  latter  takes  her  by  the 
hand. 

Sixteenth  Rung  (Avarice) :  A  monk  sitting  before  a  fire 
kindled  from  heaven,  in  which  a  body  seems  to  burn.  The  con- 
cept is  quite  differently  rendered  in  Sinai  418,  as  we  shall  see 
later. 

The  rest  of  the  scenes  in  this  series  are  insignificant  and  show 
a  poverty  of  invention  unusual  even  in  Byzantine  art.  Repent- 
ance is  rendered  by  a  monk  sitting  in  meditation  in  his  cell,  the 
Chanting  of  Psalms  by  monks  who  extend  their  hands  toward 
Christ.  For  both  Humility  and  Passionlessness  the  artist  shows 
us  an  angel  giving  a  labaruin  to  a  monk  (Fig.  4),  and  Obedience 
and  Charity  are  likewise  represented  by  identical  groups  consisting 
of  an  angel  giving  a  monk  a  wreath.  Falsehood  is  portrayed  by 
a  seated  monk.  Meekness  by  one  standing;  Vainglory  is  rendered 
by  an  old  monk  teaching  a  younger  one,  Poverty  by  an  aged 
monk  in  an  attitude  of  prayer. 

On  fol.  2  a  full-page  miniature  represents  the  Ladder  reaching 
up  to  heaven.  Several  monks  are  climbing  up,  and  above  in  the 
heavens  appears  an  angel  who  extends  a  wreath  to  the  first  arrival. 
A  swarm  of  winged  devils  attempts  to  delay  the  progress  of  the 
aspirants,  or  to  thrust  them  from  the  Ladder  with  their  fiery 
forks,  and  in  the  case  of  three  they  have  succeeded.  One  of  these 
unfortunates  falls  into  the  jaws  of  a  dragon  emerging  from  a  cave, 
a  familiar  type  of  Hell.  Below  stands  St.  John  Climacus,  exhort- 
ing the  climbers,  and  at  the  foot  of  the  Ladder  a  lad,  finger  on  brow, 
thoughtfully  surveys  the  scene,  a  devil  meanwhile  plucking  at  his 
mantle. 

Fol.  2  verso  shows  us  St.  John  seated  at  his  writing-desk,  com- 
posing his  book.  A  portrait  of  the  same  character  is  to  be  found 
in  Vat.  394  (fol.  6  recto),  in  the  Sinai  Klimax,  in  Paris  Coisl.  88, 
in  Stavroniketa  50  and  in  one  of  the  Freer  miniatures. 

Fol.  3  recto  contains  a  miniature  entitled  by  Tikkanen  "  The 
Triumph  of  Johannes  Climacus "  in  view  of  the  composition, 
which  is  the  one  usual  for  such  apotheoses.  In  the  midst  of  a 
throng  of  worshipping  monks  the  saint  stands  upright  on  a  foot- 
stool and  holds  out  his  right  hand  in  benediction,  with  the  gesture 
of  a  Roman  emperor. 

It  will  have  been  noticed  in  the  comparisons  of  Vat.  1754  with 


10 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


Vat.  394  that  the  female  personifications  of  the  earher  manuscript 
are  absent  in  the  scenes  of  the  later,  and  that  the  Vices  are 
replaced  by  conventional  demons.  The  allegory  in  the  earlier 
Klimax  is  much  more  sustained  than  in  the  later;  here  in  render- 
ing the  virtues  and  vices  the  artist  occasionally,  as  in  "Remem- 
brance of  Death,"  depicts  the  monk  in  an  act  suggested  by  the 
title.  This  tendency  to  depart  from  the  earlier  Hellenizing  alle- 
gory in  the  direction  of  more  material  treatment  is  a  mark  of  the 
Byzantine  decadence  that  has  often  been  noted ;  but  nowhere  can 
so  striking  an  example  be  found  as  in  the  thirty  large  miniatures 
which  in  Vat.  1754  follow  the  scenes  above  described. 

"These  miniatures,"  says 
Tikkanen,  "...  represent  the 
glorification  of  the  pitiful  in  the 
ascetic  existence.  Wretched- 
ness and  misery  are  elevated  to 
an  ideal.  Never  in  fact  have  I 
seen  such  ostentation  in  the 
setting  forth  of  this  negative 
morale  of  monasticism,  which 
teaches  the  conquest  of  sin  by 
fleeing  from  temptation,  which 
substitutes  penance  and  self- 
tormenting,  stupid  brooding, 
for  work  and  healthy  activity,  and  to  gain  heaven,  makes  earth 
a  hell !  " 

Some  of  the  miniatures  of  this  series  have  versified  inscriptions 
and  explanatory  titles  in  addition.  The  scenes  are  much  alike, 
representing  groups  of  monks  admonished  by  the  abbot  (fol.  3 
verso)  standing  in  deep  dejection  (fol.  4  recto) ;  brooding  over 
their  unworthy  state;  stretching  their  hands  to  heaven  (fol.  4 
verso),  from  which  issues  the  Dcxtera  Domini;  ^  praying,  with 
hands  bound  behind  their  backs,  the  Virgin  interceding  for  them 
(fol.  5  recto);  sitting  in  misery  upon  the  ground  (fol.  5  verso); 
hiding  their  faces  and  tearing  their  hair  in  penitence  (fol.  6  recto), 
while  the  Mother  of  God  extends  from  heaven  a  pitying  hand 
(Fig.  5).    The  artist  seems  to  have  racked  his  brain  for  new 

'  Dextera  Domini,  the  ''Hand  of  God."  This  was  the  customary,  and  well-nigh  ex- 
clusive method  of  rendering  the  Divine  Presence  in  Early  Christian  Art,  and  continued  in 
favor  throughout  the  Middle  Ages  in  both  East  and  West. 


FIG.  5.  Penitent  Monks.  Miniature  of 
A  Klimax  Manuscript  in  the  Vatican 
Library  :  Vat.  1754. 


KLIMAX  MINIATURES 


II 


gestures  and  attitudes  that  could  lend  variety  to  his  unending 
theme  of  self-torment.  One  of  the  monks  in  the  miniature  on  fol. 
9  verso  leans  on  a  staff  in  the  manner  of  the  magistrates  on  the 
east  frieze  of  the  Parthenon,  or  the  Demos  on  Attic  decrees. 
Elsewhere  the  monks  appear  half-naked.  On  fol.  lo  recto,  the  title 
tells  us  that  "  they  eat  ashes  instead  of  bread  and  mix  the  water 
that  they  drink  with  tears  ;  "  three  of  the  five  monks  represented  in 
the  accompanying  miniature  seem  to  be  drinking  out  of  cups.  A 
somewhat  similar  scene  appears  in  Vat.  394,  which  also  has  a  fair 
parallel  to  the  scenes  depicting  the  death  of  a  monk  in  Vat.  1 754  (fol. 
16  recto  and  verso).  Fol.  11  recto  displays  the  effect  of  the  ascetic 
existence  in  a  group  of  skeleton- 
like half-clad  monks.  The  limit 
of  the  painter's  meagre  powers 
of  facial  expression  is  reached 
in  fol.  II  verso  (Fig.  6).  The 
goal  and  reward  is  reached  at 
last  in  fol.  1 7  verso,  where  Christ 
appears  to  a  throng  of  monks. 
In  the  next  miniature  (fol.  18 
recto)  Christ  invites  them  to  en- 
ter the  gates  of  Paradise,  and  on 
the  opposite  page  we  find  them 
safely  inside,  lifting  up  their 
hands  in  ecstatic  adoration  of 
the  Lord.  In  the  last  miniature  (fol.  19  recto)  they  stand,  once 
more  fully  clad,  hands  crossed  upon  their  breasts,  in  peace.  At 
the  head  of  the  throng  is  the  Virgin,  adoring  the  Hand  of  God 
which  appears  in  the  heavens  above,  "thanking  the  Son,"  the  title 
tells  us,  "for  the  saving  of  these." 

Vigor  and  skill  are  not  lacking  in  these  miniatures,  but  in 
general  they  are  inferior  in  elegance  and  careful  execution  to  those 
of  Vat.  394.  There  are  bad  violations  of  proportion,  and  the 
hands  and  feet  are  often  barbarous.  Tikkanen  finds  the  style  as  a 
whole  to  be  that  of  the  eleventh  century,  but  dates  the  manuscript 
indefinitely  in  the  eleventh  or  twelfth,  one  reason  being  apparently 
the  absence  of  gold  backgrounds,  an  omission  rare  in  the  best 
period.  The  materialistic  tendency  noted  above  would  point  to 
the  later  date.  The  unfinished  condition  of  many  of  the  minia- 
tures reveals  the  process  of  painting —  first  a  sketchy  drawing, 


FIG.  6.  Penitent  Monks.  Miniature  of 
A  Klimax  Manuscript  in  the  Vatican 
Library:  Vat.  1754. 


12 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


within  which  the  principal  Hghts  and  shadows 
are  laid  on  in  an  under-coloring  of  equally  in- 
definite character,  and  afterwards  the  final  col- 
oring, put  on  in  thick  tones,  with  details  and 
final  outlines  drawn  in  firm  unerring  strokes. 
Nude  parts  are  left  in  the  tone  of  the  under- 
painting,  on  which  the  features  and  lights  and 
shadows  are  delicately  indicated  with  brown 
and  white.  Gray  hair  is  under-painted  with 
blue,  which  is  often  retained  as  the  final  color. 

Of  the  twelfth-century  manuscripts  of  the 
Klimax,  to  which  period  the  Freer  miniatures 
are  to  be  assigned,  the  most  interesting  is  Sinai 
418.  Kondakoff's  description  ("Travels  on 
Sinai,"  in  Russian)  is  partially  translated  in 
Tikkanen's  article  and  two  pages  of  the  codex 
are  reproduced  in  the  album  accompanying 
Kondakoff's  work  (pis.  77,  78).  The  first  two 
miniatures  represent  the  Cross,  surrounded  by 
the  Evangelical  beasts,  and  Christ  receiving  the 
book  of  the  "  Heavenly  Ladder  "  from  St.  John 
Climacus.  Besides  the  usual  scenes  relating  to 
the  composition  of  the  work,  the  codex  is  illus- 
trated by  a  number  of  miniatures  which  depict 
in  realistic  fashion  the  titles  of  the  "  rungs." 
"  Withdrawal  from  the  World  "  is  rendered  by 
an  old  man,  beginning  a  journey  and  giving  his 
garments  to  the  poor.  The  homily  on  Dreams 
is  illustrated  by  a  sleeping  monk  tempted  by 
two  demons,  after  the  manner  of  Vat.  394. 
"  Remembrance  of  Death  "  is  typified,  as  noted 
above  (p.  8),  by  an  old  man  standing  before 
a  sarcophagus  containing  four  dead  youths. 
The  scenes  show  much  realism,  and  apparently 
often  without  direct  reference  to  the  monastic 
life,  as  in  "  Bearing  Malice,"  where  we  see  ser- 
vants assailing  their  masters  before  a  personage 

Miniature  of  a  Klimax  Manuscript  in  the  Bibliotheque 
Nationai.e:  Paris  Coisl.  263. 

A  monk  seated  on  a  stool,  holding  a  cup  in  his  left  hand.    This  being  the  headpiece  to  the  fourteenth 
homily,  the  preceding  ones  are  symbolized  by  the  ladder  of  thirteen  rungs  above. 


FIG.  7.  Gluttony. 


KLIMAX  MINIATURES 


13 


of  authority,  and  "Avarice,"  which  is  rendered  by  a  magnate  in  a 
blue  robe  seated  in  front  of  a  chest,  while  his  servants  drive  away 
beggars  and  receive  grain  from  peasants.  Another  miniature  rep- 
resents an  unregenerate  in  the  midst  of  a  revel,  while  the  plague 
rages  around  him  and  the  earth  is  already  strewn  with  the  dead. 
There  is  in  this  manuscript,  therefore,  a  further  development  of 
the  materializing  tendency  which  we  saw  in  Vat.  1754.  The 
Hellenistic  allegories  of  Vat.  394,  already 
materialized  in  Vat.  1754,  are  almost  com- 
pletely gone  in  Sinai  418,  where  the  Virtues 
and  Vices  are  indicated  in  scenes  of  real  life. 

Paris  1 1 58  is  remarkable  for  its  original 
initials  and  borders,  but  contains  only  one 
miniature,  and  of  that  but  little  is  left  except 
the  gold  ground  (fol.  256  verso).  The  orig- 
inal composition  represented  the  Ladder, 
with  the  figure  of  St.  John  to  the  left.  Below 
him  at  the  foot  of  the  ladder  was  a  crowd 
of  monks.  One  can  still  reconstruct  three 
figures  of  monks  climbing  the  Ladder  and 
another  falling,  pulled  down  by  winged  de- 
mons into  the  Pit  of  Hell  below.  In  the  arc 
of  Heaven  at  the  top  of  the  Ladder  appears  a 
half-figure  of  Christ,  who  wears  a  cruciform 
nimbus.  Paris  Coisl.  263  contains  the  figure 
of  a  monk  holding  a  goblet  and  seated  below 
a  ladder  of  thirteen  rungs  (Fig.  7).  This 
motif  resembles  the  illustrations  of  "  Glut- 
tony" in  Vat.  1754,  and  "  Satiety"  in  Vat.  394, 
and  serves  as  headpiece  to  the  title  of  the 
fourteenth  homily  on  "  Fasting."  Paris  1069 
contains  the  peculiar  miniature  reproduced  in 
Fig.  8,  which  depicts  the  Ladder  with  its  top- 
most rung  occupied  by  a  little  figure  wrapped 
in  a  shroud  ;  Christ  leans  forward  from  the 

heavens  to  receive  it.  This  figure  Bordier  calls  "  the  human  soul," 
—  an  interpretation  which  I  see  no  reason  to  criticize. 

The  thirteenth  century  is  proverbially  poor  in  monuments  of 
Byzantine  art,  and  I  know  of  no  illustrated  Klimax  codex  belong- 
ing to  that  period.    The  fourteenth  century,  however,  is  well  rep- 


FIG.  8.  The  Soul  at 
THE  Top  of  the  Heav- 
enly Ladder.  Mini- 
ature of  a  Klimax 
Manuscript   in  the 

BiBLIOTHEQUE  NATIO- 

nale  :  Paris  1069. 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


resented  by  Stavroniketa  50,  which  is  briefly  described  by  Lambros 
in  his  catalogue  of  the  manuscripts  of  Mt.  Athos.  The  codex  is 
of  quarto  size  and  contains  288  leaves.  At  the  beginning  of  each 
"  rung"  appears  a  small  picture  representing  monks,  usually  on 
the  Ladder,  praying  and  gazing  up  to  heaven,  and  thus  conceived 
in  the  manner  of  the  majority  of  those  of  Vat.  394.  F"ol.  i  /3  con- 
tains a  miniature  representing  the  Ladder  with  Christ  at  the  summit 
leaning  forth  from  heaven  to  receive  the  ascending  monks.  Below 
the  Ladder,  among  other  figures,  is  that  of  St.  John.  On  fol.  3  /3 
is  another  miniature  in  all  probability  representing  the  same  per- 
son, and  we  find  him  again  in  a  full-page  miniature  on  fol.  1 1  ^, 
where  he  is  seated,  as  in  the  Freer  miniature,  before  a  table  on 
which  materials  for  writing  are  placed. 

Ambr.  387.  i  is  a  paper  codex  of  the  fifteenth  century,  contain- 
ing among  other  writings  a  manuscript  of  the  Ladder,  in  which  is 
a  ruined  portrait  of  the  author.  The  same  date  is  to  be  assigned 
to  the  paper  codex  in  the  Imperial  Library  at  Vienna,  with  its  sol- 
itary miniature  representing  the  Ladder,  with  monks  climbing  up 
to  Christ  in  heaven,  or  falling  into  the  jaws  of  Hell  (Fig.  9). 

From  the  descriptions  which  have  preceded  we  see  that  the 
Freer  miniatures  represent  the  only  two  miniatures  which  are  typical 
of  Klimax  manuscripts,  the  author  portrait,  and  the  "  Ladder." 
In  Byzantine  art  it  is  seldom  we  find  an  iconographical  cycle  of 
such  variety  as  that  of  the  Klimax.  In  the  profusely  illustrated 
manuscripts.  Vat.  394  and  1754,  Sinai  418  and  Stavroniketa  50, 
the  types  used  in  all,  or  even  more  than  one  of  the  manuscripts, 
are  rare.  The  miniatures  representing  "  Home-leaving  "  in  the 
first  three  manuscripts  bear  a  general  resemblance  to  one  another. 
Sinai  418  and  Vat.  1754  are  somewhat  similar  in  their  rendering 
of  "  Remembrance  of  Death."  The  death  of  a  monk  in  Vat.  394 
is  paralleled  by  miniatures  in  Vat.  1754.  But  these  resemblances 
do  not  amount  to  an  iconographical  tradition,  being  due,  in  great 
part,  to  the  uninventiveness  of  the  artist  as  well  as  the  community 
of  content.  On  the  other  hand,  the  author  portrait  and  the  heaven- 
ascending  Ladder  are  found  in  nearly  all  of  our  examples. 

ii.  Portrait  of  St.  John  Climacus  — -  Plate  I  (Frontispiece) 

The  reproduction  of  Mr.  Freer's  miniatures  in  colored  plates 
makes  it  unnecessary  to  describe  them  in  detail.  The  initial  minia- 
ture (Plate  I)  is  on  parchment,  and  measures  17.2  x  10.5  cm.  It 


FK;.  9.    Thk  IIk.wem.v  I.addkk.    Mimaitrk,  Klimax  MANrscRipr:  Vienna  207. 

Christ  in  Heaven  receiving  four  monks  ulio  clinil)  tlie  Ladder.    To  the  right,  tliree  monks  falling  into 
the  mouth  of  a  dragon  representmg  Hell.    In  the  centre,  the  Ladder,  with  inscribed  "  rungs." 


i6 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


has  been  cut  out  of  its  original  page  along  the  red  border,  and 
pasted  on  a  paper  backing.  The  author  is  clad  in  a  tunic  and  the 
Eastern  monastic  cope,  and  sits  on  a  cushioned  bench.  On  his 
lap  he  holds  a  portable  desk  on  which  he  writes,  and  before  him 
stands  his  writing-table,  with  supports  terminating  in  little  knobs. 
On  the  table  we  see  his  ink-well  and  the  phial  of  minium,  the 
indispensable  red  ink  used  in  titles  and  initials.  In  the  back- 
ground is  his  monastery  of  Mt.  Sinai,  represented  by  a  rectangular 
enclosure,  whose  entrance  is  marked  by  a  gate-tower  of  enormous 
height,  crowned  with  a  windowed  drum  and  dome.  The  balcony 
surrounding  the  tower  above  the  gateway  is  here  turned  by  a 
false  perspective  into  the  segment  of  a  circle.  The  artist  had 
better  success  with  the  balcony  on  the  tower  which  appears  be- 
hind St.  John  in  the  Ladder-miniature. 

The  inscriptions  to  right  and  left  of  the  figure  of  St.  John 
read:  •'•  6  ayio<i\liii{6.vvi]<i)\b  T{rj)<;  /cXt/xaK:o(?)  'St.  John  of  the 
Ladder,'  This  seated  and  writing  figure  is  the  traditional  author 
portrait  in  Byzantine  art,  and  its  derivation  from  Hellenic  sources 
has  often  been  noted. ^  Beginning  with  a  variety  of  the  seated 
figures  on  Attic  grave-reliefs,  the  motif  develops  in  the  late 
classic  into  a  seated  "philosopher"  holding  or  reading  a  scroll, 
such  as  we  find  on  sarcophagi  of  the  "  Sidamara  "  type,  and  the 
sarcophagus  of  S.  Maria  Antiqua.^  Virgil  is  thus  depicted  hold- 
ing a  volumcn  in  his  hands  in  one  of  the  Vatican  Virgils.  In  the 
famous  Vienna  Dioscurides  of  the  sixth  century  the  author  is 
represented  in  a  manner  more  like  the  Byzantine  type,  with  his 
figure  in  profile.  He  does  not  write,  however,  but  points  to  a 
root  of  the  mandragora  which  Eu/)ecrt9  '  Discovery '  holds  before 
him.  This  is  transformed  into  the  Christian  author  type  in  the 
Codex  Rossanensis  of  the  same  period  (Fig.  15)  where  we  see 
Mark  seated  in  an  armchair  and  writing  on  a  scroll,  while  before 
him  stands,  in  attitude  of  dictation,  a  female  nimbed  figure 
whose  significance  is  discussed  elsewhere  (p.  35).  This  type, 
omitting  the  personification,  became  the  customary  form  in  which 
the  portraits  of  the  Evangelists  were  cast  in  both  Byzantine  and 
western  painting,  and  of  course  is  the  ultimate  inspiration  for  our 

^  Cf.  Diez,  Die  Miniaturcn  des  Wiener  Dioskurides,  Byzantinische  Denkmiiler,  III, 
p.  38  ff. 

Byz.  Denkmdler,  III,  p.  xiii,  fig.  2.  For  the  sarcophagus  of  S.  Maria  Antiqua,  see 
Suppi.  Papers  of  the  American  School  in  Rome,  I,  p.  148  ff.,  fig.  i. 


I 


Plate  II. 


The  Heavenly  Lauder 


KLIMAX  MINIATURES 


17 


miniature.  The  Dextera  Domini  which  appears  in  the  upper 
right-hand  corner  to  symboHze  the  divine  inspiration  of  the 
writer,  is  also  found  in  late  portraits  of  the  Evangelists.' 

iii.   Miniature  of  the  Heavenly  Ladder — Plate  II 

The  second  of  the  Freer  miniatures,  likewise  on  parchment, 
must  have  been  the  final  one  of  the  manuscript,  for  the  page  con- 
tains a  colophon  and  the  signature  of  the  scribe.  The  ground 
of  the  miniature  to  the  left  of  the  ladder  was  originally  covered 
with  a  light  blue  wash,  shading  into  green  at  the  top.  To  the 
right  of  the  ladder  the  ground  color  was  originally  dark  blue.  The 
green  spots  along  the  border  to  the  right  are  later  splotches  of 
color  which  have  accidentally  stuck  to  the  leaf.  Again  we  see  the 
saint,  this  time  standing  before  his  monastery,  holding  a  book  in 
his  left  hand,  and  pointing  with  his  right,  the  fingers  of  which  are 
arranged  in  the  form  of  the  "  Greek  "  benediction,  to  the  edifying 
spectacle  of  the  Ladder,  on  which  two  monks  are  making  their 
way  to  Heaven.  To  the  right  of  the  monasteiy  is  the  inscription  : 
6  TT79  1  k\l\  fiaK{o<;).  The  miniature,  like  its  fellow,  was  cut  out  of 
its  manuscript,  and  in  the  process  the  lower  edge  of  the  leaf  was 
lost.  It  now  measures  15.6  x  13.2  cm.,  but  the  figure  of  St. 
John,  which  must  have  been  originally  complete,  demands  about 
2.5  cm.  of  additional  space,  so  that  we  may  assume  that  so  much  of 
the  lower  part  of  the  miniature  has  been  removed.  The  upper 
right-hand  corner  of  the  miniature  has  also  been  lost,  but  the  upper 
end  of  the  Ladder  was  completed  by  the  familiar  motif  of  the  Dex- 
tera Domini,  of  which  the  rays  and  one  finger  of  the  Hand  survive. 

We  have  already  noticed  that  the  only  two  miniatures  which 
can  be  called  typical  of  the  Klimax  cycle  are  the  author  portrait 
and  the  Ladder  picture.  The  rest  of  the  illustration  seems  to 
have  been  largely  a  matter  of  individual  fancy  on  the  part  of  the 
artist,  and  even  the  Ladder  picture  shows  much  variety.  An 
elaborate  composition  is  seen  in  Vat.  1754,  where  the  monks  who 
climb  the  ladder  are  welcomed  at  the  top  by  an  angel  extend- 
ing a  wreath.  Their  progress  is  impeded  by  winged  devils  who 
try  to  pull  them  down,  and  three  of  them  fall  from  the  ladder  into 
the  jaws  of  the  dragon  below.    Paris  1158  also  has  the  devils,  but 

1  Cf,  e._g:  the  examples  given  on  p.  36,  note  2,  and  the  twelfth-century  manuscript 
described  in  the  catalogue  of  the  Claudin  Sale  (1877),  where  the  motif  appears  in  the 
portrait  of  Luke  (Bordier,  op.  at.,  p.  306.  fig.  192). 


i8 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


replaces  the  angel  with  the  figure  of  Christ.  In  this  it  resembles 
the  Vienna  codex  and  Stavroniketa  50,  both  of  which,  however, 
omit  the  devils.  In  Vat.  394,  on  the  other  hand,  we  find  the 
demons  again,  and  Christ  is  accompanied  by  the  Virgin.  Paris 
1069  displays  yet  another  variation  in  the  human  soul  at  the 
top  of  the  Ladder.  In  Vat.  1754,  again,  St.  John  stands  at  the 
foot  of  the  Ladder,  encouraging  the  monks  to  ascend.  This 
motif  is  found  in  the  Freer  miniature,  in  Stavroniketa  50  (where 
the  saint  is  accompanied  by  other  figures)  and  in  Vat.  394,  but 
is  lacking  in  the  Vienna  codex.  In  Paris  11 58  a  group  of  monks 
stands  at  the  foot  of  the  Ladder,  and  St.  John  is  depicted  above 
them.  Another  feature  of  Vat.  1754  is  the  dragon,  which  appears 
in  the  Vienna  codex,  but  is  omitted  in  Vat.  394.  The  unique 
detail  of  1754  is  the  boy  at  the  foot  of  the  Ladder  with  the  devil 
plucking  at  his  robe.  To  complete  our  list  of  variants,  we  must 
note  that  the  Vienna  manuscript  combines  with  the  scene  above 
described  the  simple  drawing  of  the  Ladder  which  occurs  occa- 
sionally in  codices  devoid  of  other  illustration,  and  that  in  Paris 
Coisl.  88,  the  Ladder  rises  from  the  top  of  St.  John's  monastery. 

As  will  be  shown  later,  the  Freer  miniatures  belong  to  the 
early  half  of  the  twelfth  century.  The  Ladder  miniature,  more- 
over, represents  the  scene  reduced  to  its  lowest  terms,  and 
reflects  a  tendency  manifested  in  Byzantine  art  during  the  twelfth 
century  toward  simplicity  of  composition.  Paris  11 58  on  the 
other  hand  already  shows  the  realistic  expansion  of  Byzantine  icon- 
ography which  is  found  in  the  fourteenth  century  Vienna  minia- 
ture. But  in  general  the  most  detailed  treatments  of  the  Ladder 
picture  are  found  in  the  earliest  and  latest  examples,  and  the 
simplest  in  the  middle  period. 

The  model  from  which  the  miniaturists  drew  the  general  out- 
lines of  the  Ladder  composition  is  not  far  to  seek ;  indeed,  it  is 
indicated  in  the  letter  written  to  St.  John  by  the  abbot  of  Raithu, 
urging  him  to  undertake  the  composition  of  the  Klimax.  "  For 
if  Jacob,"  says  the  worthy  abbot,  "while  watching  his  flocks,  saw 
so  wonderful  a  sight  upon  the  ladder,  how  much  more  should  the 
shepherd  of  reasoning  creatures  unfold  to  all,  not  a  mere  dream, 
but  a  real,  true,  and  undeviating  ascent  to  God!"  And  Jacob's 
ladder,  with  its  ascending  and  descending  angels,  and  the  sleep- 
ing patriarch  below,  became,  in  fact,  the  model  for  the  Ladder  pic- 
tures of  the  Klimax.    One  of  the  earliest  Jacob's  Ladders  in 


KLIMAX  MINIATURES 


19 


Byzantine  art  is  a  miniature  in  the  well-known  Ms.  gr.  510  in  the 
Bibliotheque  Nationale,  containing  the  Homilies  of  Gregory  of 
Nazianzus,  and  dating  in  the  ninth  century.^  Here  we  find  the 
episode  divided,  Jacob  sleeping  on  his  rocky  pillow  at  the  left  and 
further  on  at  the  right  the  angels  mounting  and  descending  the 
ladder.  By  the  eleventh  century  the  type  which  formed  the  im- 
mediate model  of  the  Klimax  ladder  had  been  evolved,  in  the  form 
in  which  we  see  it  on  the  bronze 
doors  of  the  cathedral  of  Monte 
Santangelo  in  South  Italy  (Fig. 
10).  In  this  incised  design  we 
have  only  to  substitute  monks 
for  the  angels,  and  the  standing 
figure  of  St.  John  for  the  sleep- 
ing Jacob,  to  produce  the  com- 
position of  the  Freer  miniature. 
Another  version  of  the  Dream 
appearing  in  the  Homilies  of  the 
Monk  Jacobus,  of  the  eleventh 
century  (Vat.  gr.  1162  and  Bibl. 
Nat.gr.  1208),  miakes  the  angels 
four  in  number,  and  adds  the 
figure  of  God  or  Christ  at  the 
top  of  the  ladder.  The  arche- 
type of  such  compositions  doubt- 
less formed  the  model  for  the 
compositions  of  the  Klimax  Lad- 
der found  in  Vat.  394  and  1754, 
Stavroniketa  50  and  the  Vienna 
codex. 

The  Ladder  of  Jacob  in- 
spired many  another  composition  in  mediaeval  illumination,'^  but 
the  Ladder  scene  of  the  Klimax  manuscripts  itself  produced  an 
interesting  and  numerous  progeny,  not  only  in  Byzantine,  but  also 
in  Western  art.  It  could  hardly  be  otherwise  in  view  of  the 
popularity  of  the  work,  but  an  additional  factor  of  importance 
was  the  inclusion  of  extracts  from  the  Klimax  in  the  readings  for 
the  beginning  of  Lent  in  the  Eastern  Church.'^ 

^  Omont,  Facsimiles  des  miniatures  des  Mss.  grecs  de  la  Bibl.  Nat.,  pi.  XXXVII. 
^  See  Tikkanen,  Die  Genesismosaiken  in  Venedig,  Helsingfors,  1889,  p.  122,  note  3. 
^  Brockhaus,  Die  Kiinst  in  den  Atlios-kldstern.  p.  82. 


FIG.  10.  Jacob's  Vision.  Incised  Design 
ON  THE  Bronze  Doors  of  the  Cathe- 
dral OF  Monte  Santangelo. 


The  inscription  reads  :  Scalam  quam  Jacob  vidit  in 
somnis, '  the  Ladder  which  Jacob  saw  in  his  dream." 


20 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


The  later  Byzantine  painting  followed  closely  the  liturgy  in  its 
choice  of  subjects,  and  we  therefore  find  the  Heavenly  Ladder  not 
infrequently  represented  in  church  frescoes.'  It  won  a  place  also 
in  the  Painter's  Manual  of  Mt.  Athos,  that  curious  compendium 
of  rules  for  the  painting  of  sacred  subjects  compiled  by  a  certain 
Dionysius  of  Fourna  and  deriving  from  late  Byzantine  sources, 
though  its  date  can  hardly  be  earlier  than  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century. Dionysius  tells  us  how  to  paint  "the  Lad- 
der which  saves  the  soul  and  leads  to  Heaven"  as  follows:^  "A 
monastery,  and  outside  its  gates  a  throng  of  monks,  young  and 
old,  with  a  large,  high  ladder  in  front  of  them  reaching  up  to 
heaven.  Upon  it  monks,  some  climbing,  others  beginning  to  as- 
cend. Above,  winged  angels  aiding  them.  In  the  heavens  is 
Christ,  and  before  Him  on  the  topmost  rung  of  the  Ladder  is  a 
single  aged  monk  of  priestly  dignity,  extending  his  hands  and 
gazing  at  Him.  The  Lord  with  joy  receives  him  with  one  hand, 
and  with  the  other  places  a  wreath  of  many-hued  flowers  upon  his 
head,  saying  to  him  :  '  Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are 
heavy-laden,  and  I  will  give  you  rest '  (Matt.  xi.  28).  And  under- 
neath the  Ladder  are  a  number  of  winged  demons,  seizing  the 
monks  by  their  robes:  they  pull  at  some,  but  cannot  make  them 
fall ;  others  they  have  succeeded  in  separating  a  little  from  the 
Ladder.  Still  others  they  have  pulled  considerably  away  (except 
that  they  still  keep  hold  of  the  Ladder,  some  with  one  hand, 
others  with  two).  Others  they  have  pulled  away  entirely,  carry- 
ing them  off  prone,  and  clasped  about  the  waist.  Beneath  them 
is  omnivorous  Hades,  like  a  great  and  terrible  dragon,  holding  in 
his  mouth  a  monk,  who  has  fallen  in  head  foremost,  with  only  his 
feet  appearing  to  view.    The  inscription  (should  read) : 

'Gazing  at  the  Ladder  which  extends  to  Heaven 
Ponder  well  the  steps  of  Virtue. 

Fleeing  then  with  utmost  quickness  this  precarious  life 

Come  to  it  and  mount  it  with  toil. 

With  the  choirs  of  angels  as  thy  protection 

1  Mt.  Athos,  Narthex  of  church  of  Dochiariu  monastery  (Brockhaus.  op.  cit.,  p.  296)  ; 
Trapeza  church  at  Lavra  (Brockhaus,  p.  279).  Millet  gives  no  examples  of  it  at  Mistra 
(^Monuments  byzaiituis  de  Mistra,  Paris,  191  o). 

2  Diclil.  Manuel  iVart  byzaiitin,  p.  774. 

3  Denys  de  Fourna,  Manuel  irico7iographie  chrHieiine,  ed.  A.  Papadopoulo-Kerameus 
(St.  Petersburg,  1909),  p.  211. 


KLIMAX  MINIATURES 


21 


Mayst  thread  the  snares  of  wicked  demons, 

So  that,  arriving  at  the  gates  of  Heaven, 

Thou  shalt  have  a  crown  at  the  hands  of  the  Lord.'" 

From  this  we  see  that  Dionysius'  notion  of  the  picture  was 
very  much  like  that  of  the  artist  who  illustrated  Vat.  1754,  save 
that  the  latter  substitutes  an  angel  for  Christ,  and  puts  in  the  fig- 
ures of  St.  John  and  the  boy  at  the  foot  of  the  Ladder.  The 
description  given  in  the  Manual  thus  represents  the  realistic  de- 
velopment of  late  Byzantine  iconography,  and  yet  in  its  wealth  of 
detail  corresponds  with  the  earliest  forms  of  the  Ladder  picture. 
The  Freer  miniature  and  Paris  1069  show  how  far  the  type  was  sim- 
plified in  the  twelfth  century,  and  a  glance  at  the  accompanying 
table  will  reveal  the  general  features  of  its  evolution  (Fig.  1 1).  The 


Motif 

XI  Cent. 

XII  Cent. 

XIV  Cent. 

XV  Cent. 

XVI  &  Later. 

Dragon 

Vat.  1754 

Vienna 
207 

Triptych 
Manual 

Boy  and  Devil 

Vat.  1754 

Angel  at  Top  of  Lad- 
der 

Vat.  1754 

Christ  at  Top  of  Lad- 
der 

Paris  1 1 58 

Stavroniketa 
5° 

Vienna 
207 

Triptych 
Manual 

Christ  and  Virgin  at 
Top  of  Ladder 

Vat.  394 

St.  John  beside  the 
Ladder 

Vat.  1754 
Vat.  394 

Freer  Min. 
Paris  1 1 58 

St.  John  and  Monks 
AT  Foot  of  Ladder 

Stavroniketa 
5° 

Triptych 

Monks  at   Foot  of 
Ladder 

Paris  1158 

Manual 

Monastery 

Freer  Min. 

Triptych 
Manual 

"  Human  Soul "  at  Top 
of  Ladder 

Paris  1069 

Ladder  Rising  from 
Top  of  Monastery 

Pari.s 
Coisl.  88 

Devils  impeding 
Monks 

Vat.  1754 
Vat.  394 

Paris  II 58 

Triptych 
Manual 

Contents  Table  com- 
bined WITH  Ladder 

Vienna 
207 

FIG.  11.    Iconography  of  the  Miniature  of  the  Heavenly  Ladder. 


22 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


final  form  in  which  the  subject  was  cast  can  be  seen  in  Russian 
art,  the  ultimate  phase  of  Byzantine,  and  is  illustrated  by  two  Rus- 
sian ikons  in  the  Likhatcheff  collection  in  St.  Petersburg.  One  is 
here  reproduced  (Fig.  12).  The  other,  dated  about  1800,  has  a 
simpler  composition.  A  male  and  female  saint  are  mounting  the 
Ladder,  and  the  latter  is  received  by  the  enthroned  Christ  and  the 
archangels,  but  the  throng  of  the  elect  that  appears  in  the  other 
ikon  is  absent  in  this.  Two  monks  fall  into  the  pit  of  Hell,  which 
is  represented  in  the  usual  form  as  the  jaws  of  an  immense  monster. 

St.  John's  Heavenly  Ladder  was  thus  a  popular  type  in  Byzan- 
tine art  and  was  used  for  other  purposes  than  as  an  illustration  of 
the  Klimax.  It  appears  in  a  Greek  Psalter  of  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury in  the  Vatican  Library,*  and  in  a  very  interesting  tempera 
triptych  in  the  Museo  Cristiano  of  the  Vatican  (Fig.  13)  which  is 
here  reproduced  from  D'Agincourt's  drawing.'  D'Agincourt 
dated  the  triptych  in  the  thirteenth  century,  but  Muiioz,  the  latest 
authority  to  comment  on  the  monument,  does  not  consider  it 
earlier  than  the  sixteenth.^  The  figure  shows  only  the  paintings 
of  the  back.  The  provenience  of  the  piece  is  indicated  by  the  in- 
scription which  surmounts  the  curious  landscape  of  the  left  wing : 
TO  ayiov  ixovaaTrjpiov  TO  %ivaLov;  "the  holy  monastery  of  Sinai." 
The  monastery  is  depicted  in  the  midst  of  its  mountainous  sur- 
roundings, a  caravan  approaches  in  the  foreground,  and  in  the  dis- 
tance are  scenes  representing  the  life  and  burial  of  a  saintly  an- 
chorite. The  touch  of  local  pride  evinced  by  the  inscription 
seems  unmistakable,  and  it  is  altogether  probable  that  the  trip- 
tych was  painted  at  Sinai  itself.  It  is  quite  in  order  therefore 
that  the  Heavenly  Ladder  of  St.  John  Scholasticus,  himself  a 
Sinaite,  should  be  painted  on  the  opposite  wing,  and  there  in  fact 
we  find  it,  in  a  form  remarkably  like  that  described  by  Dionysius 
in  the  Painter's  Manual,  and  resembling  to  a  lesser  extent  the 
representation  of  Vat.  1754.  Four  monks  ascend  the  Ladder,  of 
whom  the  topmost  one  is  attired  in  vestments,  reminding  one  of 
the  "priestly  dignity"  recommended  for  this  figure  by  the  Man- 
ual. Christ,  in  half-figure,  bends  forward  from  the  arc  of  heaven 
to  receive  him.  Two  monks  have  fallen,  and  are  dragged  down 
by  naked  winged  demons,  while  a  third  is  plunging  headlong  into 

1  Vat.  gr.  1927,  fol.  218  recto.    Cf.  Tikkanen,  Acta  Soc.  Scient.  Fenn.  XIX,  1893,  p.  8. 

^  Hist,  de  PArt,  V,  pi.  xci,  and  II.  pp.  91-92. 

*  Vart  by  sunt  in  a  V  Exposition  de  Grottaferrata,  p.  43. 


FIG.  12.    The  Heavenly  Ladder.    Ikon  in  the  Likhatcheff  Collection  in 

St.  Petersburg. 

• 

Above,  the  Elect  in  Heaven,  and  Christ  at  the  Heavenly  Gates,  accompanied  by  the  Virgin,  John 
the  Baptist,  and  two  angels.  The  Saviour  receives  a  monk  who  has  climbed  the  Ladder  of  thirty  rungs. 
An  angel  offers  crowns  to  the  monk  below  him,  and  another  angel  brings  a  crown  to  a  third  monk.  The 
latter  is  apparently  exhausted  by  his  conflict  with  the  demon  who  flies  away  in  disappointment  to  the  right 
of  the  Ladder.  Two  monks  are  falling  from  the  Ladder  into  the  Pit  of  Hell.  A  demon  stretches  out  his 
arms  to  receive  them,  and  another  chastises  the  Damned  in  the  Pit.  To  the  left,  the  monastery  of  Mt. 
Sinai,  in  front  of  which  St.  John  stands  on  a  pulpit  and  preaches  to  his  monks. 


24 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


the  jaws  of  the  infernal  dragon.  Below  at  the  right,  beside  a 
church,  we  see  a  group  of  three  saints,  of  whom  the  foremost, 
doubtless  our  own  St.  John,  points  upward  to  the  scene  upon  the 
Ladder.  A  monastery  perches  upon  a  rocky  eminence  in  the 
middle  distance,  and  on  the  horizon  an  angel  admonishes  Pacho- 
mius  (the  famous  ascetic  of  Egypt):  a>  Ila^Gj/Ate  eV  toutoj  tw  o-^r^'/xan 
TTttcra  (xdp^  aayOija-eTaL;  '  Pachomius,  in  this  (monk's)  garb  will  all 


FIG.  13.    Triptych  in  the  Museo  Cristiano  of  the  Vatican. 

I,  2,  3,  4.  Figures  showing  the  arrangement  of  the  scenes  on  the  triptych. 

5.  Panorama  of  Mt.  Sinai,  painting  on  the  baclt  of  the  right  wing. 

6.  Detail  of  the  same. 

7.  The  Council  of  Nicaea,  painting  on  the  back  of  the  left  wing. 

8.  The  Heavenly  Ladder,  painting  on  the  back  of  the  central  panel. 

9.  Detail  of  the  same. 

flesh  be  saved  ! '  The  scene  is  obviously  inspired  by  the  Klimax, 
and  affords  corroborative  proof  for  that  reason  of  the  Sinaitic  ori- 
gin of  the  triptych,  since  the  subject  cannot  have  been  suggested 
by  the  other  paintings.  The  central  panel  of  the  side  of  the  trip- 
tych represented  in  our  figure  has  for  its  subject  the  condemna- 
tion of  Arius  at  the  Council  of  Nicaea.    The  three  panels  of  the 


KLIMAX  MINIATURES 


25 


Other  side  have  the  following  scenes :  in  the  central  panel,  Christ 
enthroned  amid  the  heavenly  choirs ;  on  the  wings,  the  Tree  of 
Jesse,  and  a  similar  composition  representing  Christ  as  the  Vine 
and  the  twelve  apostles  as  the  Branches.  It  is  difificult  to  see 
why  the  artist  should  have  introduced  into  such  a  series  the  ir- 
relevant subjects  of  the  panorama  of  Sinai  and  the  Heavenly  Lad- 
der of  the  Sinaite  St.  John,  unless  he  were  himself  a  resident  of 
the  mountain. 

The  influence  of  the  Ladder  was  not  confined  to  Sinai,  nor  to 
Byzantine  art.  It  evidently  inspired  at  least  one  western  work,  a 
miniature  in  the  Hortus  Deliciarum  of  Herrad  von  Landsperg. 
This  work  was  composed  in  the  latter  half  of  the  twelfth  century 
by  Herrad,  abbess  of  the  convent  of  Hohenburg  in  Alsace,  as  a 
kind  of  handbook  for  the  education  of  the  young  girls  committed 
to  her  care.  The  book  was  unfortunately  destroyed  by  fire  with 
the  rest  of  Strassburg  Library  during  the  siege  of  1870,  and  the 
illustrations  now  exist  only  in  part  and  in  copy.^  The  minia- 
tures were  ultra-allegorical,  and  this  character  is  shared  by  the 
one  which  interests  us,  a  Moral  Ladder  plainly  inspired  by  the 
Ladder  miniature  of  a  Klimax  manuscript. 

This  illustration  represents  a  Ladder  reaching  from  earth  to 
sky,  whence  the  Dextera  Domini  issues  and  extends  the  crown  of 
life  to  those  who  succeed  in  mounting  to  the  top.  At  the  bottom 
the  yawning  jaws  of  a  dragon  threaten  those  who  would  ascend. 
Two  demons  shoot  arrows  at  the  climbers  (cf.  Vat.  1754,  p.  9),  but 
their  shafts  are  parried  by  two  angels  (cf.  the  angels  of  the  Manual, 
p.  20)  armed  with  buckler  and  sword.  At  the  second  rung  a  soldier 
falls,  tumbling  upon  the  horses  and  armor  that  delighted  him  in 
life,  while  his  companion,  a  woman  of  the  world,  likewise  falls 
upon  the  cities  and  luxuries  that  she  desired.  At  the  fourth 
rung,  a  nun  takes  money  from  a  priest  and  is  dragged  off  to  a 
sinful  life.  So  the  allegory  proceeds,  showing  the  damnation 
of  various  classes  of  society  by  the  pleasures  that  bind  them  to 
life,  until  we  reach  the  thirteenth  and  last  rung,  where  we  see  a 
young  woman  advancing  with  bared  head  to  receive  the  crown 
extended  by  the  Hand  of  God.  She  is  labelled  "  The  Virtue  of 
Charity"  (  Virtus,  id  est  Charitas),  in  which  the  artist  again  shows 
dependence  on  the  Byzantine  model,  for  it  will  be  remembered  that 

1  Herrade  de  Landsberg,  Hortus  Deliciarum.  public  aux  frais  de  la  Soc.  pour  la  con- 
servation  des  tnon.  hist,  d^ Alsace,  Strassburg,  1879-1899.  pi.  LVI. 


26 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


the  topmost  rung  in  St.  John's  Ladder  was  also  the  "  Virtue  of 
Charity"  {dydirr)).  The  influence  of  the  type  may  still  be  seen  in 
Vecchietta's  "  Scala  dei  Bambini  "  in  the  Pellegrinaggio  of  Sta. 
Maria  della  Scala,  Siena.^ 

The  text  on  the  page  of  the  Freer  miniature  of  the  Heavenly 
Ladder  is  not  a  part  of  the  Klimax  but  a  colophon  of  six  iambic 
trimeters  reading: 

Tp{La)  KOVTapidfio';  '-  ov{pa)  yoSpo/Jio?  KXi/xa^ : 
iir'  ov{pa)vov^  <f)epovaa  rou?  fipoTov;  /3dcn^ : 
e'l\rj<^e  Ttpjxa  TpiaKovTOTTov;  KXi/xaf : 
7)  8e  rpia?  crw^ot  jxe  top  KeKTiqixevov 

d)  yXcJcrcra  Kal  Oavovaa  '  iracri  SeiKuveis 
X6y{a)p)  dpicTTOiv  T-qv  ScSdcrKaXo  (j)pd(rLV 

The  verses  compose  a  poem  of  rather  uneven  inspiration,  which 
may  be  translated  as  follows : 

'  Thirty  is  the  number  of  the  Ladder  leading  to  Heaven, 
A  Stairway  bearing  mortals  to  the  sky. 
The  Ladder  of  thirty  rungs  has  had  its  ending. 
May  the  Trinity  preserve  me,  the  owner  (of  the  book).' 

Here  the  poem  is  judiciously  interrupted  in  order  to  leave  a 
space  where  the  possessor  of  the  volume  might  inscribe  his  name. 
A  name  was  in  fact  once  written  here,  but  afterwards  erased,  no 
doubt  by  a  later  owner.  A  similar  case  may  be  seen  in  a  Klimax 
codex  of  the  tenth  century  in  the  Laurentiana  at  Florence.^  The 
poem  then  concludes  with  the  following  verses : 

'  O  tongue,  though  dead,  thou  still  to  all  displayest 
The  edifying  speech  of  virtuous  words.' 

Such  versified  colophons  are  by  no  means  rare  in  Byzantine 
manuscripts.  They  usually  take  the  form  of  eulogies  of  the 
book  which  the  scribe  has  copied,  or  elaborate  apologies  to  the 
reader  for  the  blunders  that  he  may  have  made.  A  number  of  them 
are  collected  in  Omont's  Facsimiles  des  inaiiuscrits  grccs  dates  de 
la  Bibliotheque  Nationale  du  IX'  au  XIV'  siecle.    The  Klimax 

^  Schubring,  Die  Plastik  Sienas,  p.  79. 

2  The  N  in  TpvaKovTapidixos  has  been  re-traced. 

*  Bandini,  Cat.  cod.  graec.  Bibl.  Laur.  Ill,  p.  411. 


KLIMAX  MINIATURES 


27 


frequently  inspired  its  copyists  to  such  laudatory  verses  ^  and  our 
scribe  himself  cannot  be  credited  with  the  whole  of  his  poem,  for 
the  first  two  verses  are  found  in  the  colophon  of  a  Klimax  codex 
of  the  eleventh  century  in  the  Ambrosiana  at  Milan. - 

Below  the  trimeters,  in  the  left-hand  lower  corner  of  the  page, 
is  written  the  signature  of  the  scribe :  7r6vr]fji(a)  deoKTLcrT{ov)  lepo- 
fjL{ovd^ov  ;  '  the  work  of  Theoctistus,  the  monk.'  Further  letters 
are  vaguely  visible  to  the  right  of  the  ladder  near  the  figure  of  St. 
John  and  close  to  the  lower  edge  of  the  leaf. 

Theoctistus  is  not  an  uncommon  name,  and  it  appears  else- 
where in  the  signatures  of  the  scribes  of  Greek  manuscripts.  It 
occurs  for  instance  in  a  Menaeum,  or  monthly  missal,  for  April, 
in  the  Imperial  Library  at  Vienna,^  accompanied  by  an  invocation 

'  The  following  are  fair  examples  of  such  colophons  in  Klimax  manuscripts  :  Lauren- 
tiana  (Bandini.  o/i.  cit.  I.  p.  266).  XII  century: 

KAi'yua^  avoj  ^ipovtra  tovs  ivapirov; 
'E^  Tj^  KaTO)  TTLTTTOvcnv  a(f>pove<;  p.6voi. 

Laurentiana  (Bandini,  op.  cit.  I.  p.  481),  XIV  century: 

Kkipa^  Trec^uxa  tj}?  avoiTaTr]';  Trv\rj<;. 
TavTrjv  /8uSt^o)v  tov  Oeov  croc^ius  eX°^ 
OTTOJS  ava)(Oi)<;  eis  tov  tvKXea  Sopov  ' 

Jerusalem,  Patriarchal  Library  (Papadopoulos,  'lepocroXvpLTiKr)  Ri/iXLoOriKr],  III,  no.  93, 
p.  1 54),  XIII  century  : 

AvTT)  KXipa$  vecjivKev  ovpavo8p6pos 
KXipa^  i<l>  ijv  )(o)povaiv  ol  Oeloi  voe?, 
77V  is  XiOoL  y]yupav  fv  <TTe.ppol<;  Adyots. 

Jerusalem,  Patriarchal  Library  (Papadopoulos,  op.  cit.  II,  no.  363,  p.  479),  early  XI 
century  : 

TTtCTTtS  TO,  )(pr]<TTa.  TOiV  KuAcoV  TTaVT(»V  <j}€peL 
eATTtS  Be  TTOUL  KapTtptlv  €V  TOIS  TTOVOIS 

rj  8'  uv  TeXeiot  ■wpotr^vo)';  r]  ayaTrrj. 

^  Martini  and  Bassi,  op.  cit.,  II,  p.  616,  no.  511.  The  editors  have  evidently  misread 
the  colophon,  transcribing  it  thus  : 

TpULVTa.pi0po<;  ovv  o  Bpopos  KXlpa^  '  cts  ovv 
ov  (pepovaa  roiis  /SpoTovs  /Sdcris  '.  — 

^  De  Nessel,  op.  cit.  Ill,  p.  130,  cod.  66: 

Qdtov  TO  BCjpov,  Kal  OeoKTLCTTOV  ■;rdv(os) 
KavTavOa  So^a  Ttj  uefiaaTr)  TpidBt. 

De  Nessel  offers  the  ingenious  but  hardly  plausible  suggestion  that  Theoctistus  is  the 
author  of  the  book,  and  is  to  be  identified  with  the  companion  of  the  celebrated  abbot 
Euthymius  of  Palestine,  who  died  in  472.  He  gives  no  date  for  the  codex,  but  calls  it 
"  pervetustus." 


28 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


of  the  Trinity  like  that  of  our  trimeters.  It  is  of  course  impos- 
sible to  tell  whether  the  Theoctistus  of  the  Vienna  manuscript  is 
identical  with  the  signer  of  the  Freer  colophon,  but  the  identifica- 
tion is  somewhat  more  likely  in  the  case  of  a  manuscript  of  the 
Dionysiu  monastery  on  Mt  Athos,  which  is  signed  by  "  Theoc- 
tistus the  sinner."  ^  For  this  manuscript  is  dated  in  the  year 
1 1 33,  and  the  early  part  of  the  twelfth  century  is  a  period  consist- 
ent with  the  hand  of  the  Freer  colophon,  as  evidenced  by  the 
square  breathings  and  the  character  of  the  script. 

The  same  name  appears  in  the  signature  of  a  Menaeum,  dated 
1 127,  in  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale  at  Paris,-  and  here  the 
copyist  tells  us  that  his  book  belonged  to  the  library  of  the 
monastery  of  St.  John  the  Baptist  in  Constantinople.  This 
manuscript  enables  us  to  identify  the  writer  of  the  Freer  colophon, 
for  when  one  compares  the  hands  used  in  this  with  that  of  the 
titles  of  the  Paris  Menaeum,  the  resemblance  is  striking  (Fig.  14).^ 
The  same  thickening  of  the  cross-strokes  of  t,  8,  and  tt  is  notice- 
able in  both  cases,  and  the  only  real  difference  is  found  in  the 
form  of  C-  The  moreover,  of  the  Paris  Menaeum  is  simply  the 
cursive  form,  instead  of  which  in  the  Freer  colophon  the  scribe 
has  preferred  the  more  formal  shape.  The  decisive  coincidence, 
however,  is  the  e,  which  in  both  manuscripts  sometimes  takes  the 
form  &  The  characteristic  feature  of  the  letter  is  the  dot  on  the 
cross-stroke,  which  gives  it  a  form  that  is  fairly  rare.  Gardt- 
hausen's  tables  show  the  form  six  times,  citing  it  from  manuscripts 
of  the  tenth,  twelfth,  and  fourteenth  centuries.  Three  of  his 
examples  are  obtained  from  two  manuscripts  of  the  early  twelfth 
century,  Paris  11 16  (a.  11 24),  and  Paris  891,  which  dates  in 
the  year  1 1 36.'*  A  colophon  in  the  latter  shows  that  it,  like 
the  Menaeum  of  1 127,  was  written  in  the  monastery  of  St.  John  the 

1  8ia  x«'po5  ToC  aixapraXov  ®€okti(ttov.  Lambros,  Ca/.  I.  p.  319,  no.  3542.8.  The 
manuscript  is  a  Gospel  lectionary. 

Ms.  gr.  1570  (Regius  2498).    Omont,  o/>.  cit.^  p.  9,  pi.  xlv.    The  signature  is  found 
on  fol.  214,  verso: 

t  'H  /Si/SXo';  avTtj  T^s  ft-ovrj^  tov  TlpoBpoixov :  Trj<;  KUp,ivr]<;  tyyicTTa  T^s  Aeriov : 
ap)(aLKr]  Se  rrj  fi-ovy  k\^(tk  Utrpa.'f 

©eU)  TO  SwpOV,  Koi  TTOl/OS  ®COKTL<TTOV. 

The  colophon  is  given  in  full  by  Omont,  consisting  of  the  date,  eleven  trimeters  depre- 
cating the  copyist's  blunders,  and  the  signature  given  above.  The  Menaeum  is  for  November. 
3  The  script  to  be  compared  is  that  of  the  title  in  the  upper  half  of  the  text  reproduced. 
*  Gardthausen,  Griechischc  Palaeograp/iie,  pi.  8. 


KLIMAX  MINIATURES 


29 


Baptist  at  Constantinople.'  The  existence  of  the  peculiar  form 
in  two  manuscripts  from  the  same  monastery  shows  that  it  was 
characteristic  of  the  scriptorium  of  that  cloister;  its  appearance 
again  in  the  Freer  colophon  justifies  us  in  concluding  that  the 
Theoctistus  of  the  latter  is  the  Theoctistus  of  the  same  monastery 
of  St.  John  the  Baptist  at  Constantinople  who  signed  the  Paris 


FIG.  14.    Specimen  Te.kt  from  a  Mexaeum  in  the  BiBLiOTHfeQUE  Nationale, 

DATED  1127. 

Menaeum  of  11 27,  and  was  probably  also  the  scribe  of  the  Mt. 
Athos  manuscript  of  11 33. 

The  Freer  miniatures  can  accordingly  be  dated  about  11 30, 
and  their  place  of  origin  identified  as  the  monastery  of  St.  John 
the  Baptist  in  Constantinople.  The  style  is  quite  consistent  with 
such  a  date.  It  has  little  of  the  awkwardness  of  movement,  the 
bold  modelling,  the  sharp  contrast  of  light  and  shade,  and  the 
conventional  realism  that  characterize  the  later  Byzantine  painting. 
Neither  has  it  quite  the  Hellenic  dignity  and  freshness  of  the 
great  works  of  the  tenth  and  eleventh  centuries.  The  sharp  in- 
ward curve  of  the  beard  of  St.  John,  the  conventionality  of  the 


'  Omont.  op.  cit.,  p.  lo.  The  manuscript  contains  the  Catechetical  Sermons  of  Theo- 
dorus  Studita.    The  scribe  signs  himself  Arsenius. 


30 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


beetle-like  figures  on  the  ladder,  are  evidence  of  decadence.  But 
the  relative  fineness  of  execution,  the  beauty  and  taste  of  the 
color  schemes,  the  dignity  of  conception,  connect  the  miniatures 
on  the  other  hand  with  the  finer  period  of  Byzantine  illumination. 
There  is  also  a  distinctiveness  of  style  about  them  which  is  rather 
hard  to  parallel,  and  may  be  the  mark  of  a  school.  If  the  time 
ever  comes  when  the  students  of  Byzantine  art  shall  feel  enough 
assured  of  the  outline  of  its  general  development  to  interest 
themselves  in  its  provincial  branches  and  monastic  schools,  these 
two  miniatures  of  Mr.  Freer's  collection,  as  products  of  a  definitely 
identified  monastery  in  Constantinople,  will  afford  a  point  of  de- 
parture of  first-rate  importance. 


1 


II. 


EIGHT 


MINIATURES  FROM  A 
OF  THE  GOSPELS 


MANUSCRIPT 


i.  The  Manuscript  containing  the  Miniatures 

Byzantine  manuscripts  of  the  Gospels  may  be  divided  into  two 
classes.  A  codex  of  the  first  class  bore  the  name  EvayyeKuov, 
'  Evangelion,'  and  took  the  form  of  a  missal,  containing  lections 
in  the  form  and  order  in  which  they  were  read  in  the  service. 
The  second  is  the  commoner  type ;  it  contained  the  complete  text 
of  the  four  Gospels  without  the  rearrangement  necessitated  in  the 
case  of  the  Evangelion.  Such  books  were  called  TeTpaevdyyeXa, 
'  Tetraevangela.' ^  The  manuscript  from  which  the  F"reer  minia- 
tures come  belonged  to  the  second  class,  as  may  be  seen  from  the 
normal  order  and  unliturgical  character  of  the  chapters  named  in 
the  topical  indices  (/cec^aXeta)  on  the  two  initial  pages  that  have 
been  preserved  (Plates  IV  and  V),  and  also  from  the  indication 
of  the  character  of  the  text  contained  in  the  titles  of  these  indices, 
as  "  The  Holy  Gospel  According  to  St.  John,"  which  is  the 
caption  of  the  index  to  that  gospel.  Such  indices  were  frequent 
in  Tetraevangela.  The  tables  of  contents  are  here  transcribed, 
accented  as  in  the  original,  with  the  chapter  numbers  of  the  Gospel 
in  parentheses.  The  headings  of  the  index  for  Mark  are  arranged 
in  columns  like  those  of  John  for  convenience  of  reference. 

At  the  Beginning  of  John  (Plate  V)  : 

■ .  ■  TOV  KUTo.  'Iw^dvvrji')  dyiov  evayyeXiov  to.  /ce^aA(eta). 

a'  7r£(pt)  TOV  iv  Kavd  ydfxov  (ll)  i'  ■!re{pl)  tov  ex  yevCTiJs  TV(j>Xov  (ix) 

)8'  Te(pt)  Tuyv  fKfiXrjOevT^uiv)  €K  tov  iepov  ux  neipV)  tov  ka^dpov  (xi) 

(ll)  t|8'  7re(pi)  T^s  dXenj/do-rji  tov  K(vpio)v  pvpwi 
y    -TTcipl)  viKoSr'jpov  (ill)  (xil) 

S'  ^rjTTjai^  irepl  Kadaptapov  (ill)  ty'  7re(pt)  tl)v  ehrcv  tov'Sas  (xil) 

c'    Trepi  T'^s  cra/tapetTt8os  (iv)  i8'  Trepi  tov  ovov  (xil) 

s'  Trept  tov  (SacnXiKov  (IV)  it'  TreQn)  Toii/  TrpoaeXOovT^wv)  fXXr}vo)v 
t,'   Trept  TOV  Xrj  tTr)  £;^ovto(s)  iv  T{rj)  dcrdc-  (XIl) 

veto,  (v)  ts'  Trept  tov  virrTrjpo';  (xill) 

7]'    7r£(pt)  ra)v  e  dpTwv  Koi  tCjv  /8'  i)(6i>wv  t^'  Trepi.  tov  irapaKX-qTOv  (XIV) 

(vi)  trj'  ireipX)  t(^)s  atVj/o-eojs  tov  KvpiaKov  cru)- 
0'  7re(pt)  TOV  iv  OaXda-cnj  TreptTraroi)  (vi)  /x(a)To(s)  (xix) 

'  Brockhaus,  op.  cit.  p.  184. 
3« 


32 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


At  the  Beginning  of  Mark  (Plate  IV)  : 
Tov  Kara  fxdpKOV  dy(iov)  €vayyeX{LOv)  to,  /<£<^a(A£ia). 


1 

a 

7re(pt)  TOV  SaifJiovL^o/xevov  (l) 

Tre[pl)  TOV  aeXrjVia^Ofievov  (ix) 

7re(pi)  T^s  TTCV^epas  ToO  irtrpov  (l) 

Trtpl  TU)v  StaAoyi^o/xfVojv  Tt's  /xei^wv  (ix) 

y' 

7r£(/3i)  Toiv  la^evTO)!'  diTro  ttoikiAwv  vo- 

Krj' 

Tre{pl)  TWV  eTrepojTrjcrdvTwv  <j>apLaai(^(ov) 

crojv  (l) 

(X)         ^    ^  ^ 

8' 

7r£(pt)  TOV  A£7r/30U  (l) 

kO' 

Tre(pl)  TOV  iTrep<i}TrjaavTo(^i)  TrXovcriov 

7r£/3t  ToS  Tra/jaAvTiKov  (ll) 

TOV  l{r](Tov)v  (x) 

s' 

■n-epi  XevX  tov  TeXuJvov  (ll) 

X' 

7r£(pi)  Tcuv  vlwv  ^e^eBaiov  (x) 

r 

TTiipV)  TOV  ^rjpav  e)(0VT0<;  X^^P^ 

Xa' 

Trepl  TOV  fiapTipMiov  (x). 

f 

V 

Trepl  T^s  Tuii'  d7ro(7ToA(a)v)  £KAoy^s  (ill) 

X/3' 

7r£pt  Tov  TrmXov  (xi) 

6' 

7r£pi  ToC  (TTTOpov  Trapa^oXi]  (iv) 

Ay' 

7r£(pi)  T^s  ^r}pav6eL<Tr]<:  (rvKrj^  (xi) 

I 

TTfpi  T^s  tTnTip,rjcre.(i)<;  tSiv  vStxToiv  (iv) 

AS' 

7r£/3t  afivr)(TLKaKLU^  (xi) 

La' 

TTE/ai  TOV  AfyEajj/os  (v) 

A£' 

•7r£(pt)  Ttui/  iTrepioTrjadvTwv  tov  K(v/3to)v 

1(3' 

7r£(|ot)  T^s  6vyaTp6{<;)  tov  ap)(i(Tvvay<ji- 

dpxtepewv  km.  Trpea^vTepmv  (xi) 

yov  (v) 

As' 

Tre^pl)  TOV  dp.TreX!i)vo<;  (xil) 

'y' 

Trepl  T^s  aifioppoovar]<;  (v) 

XV 

■7r£|0t  T^S  £7r£p(DT7;(T£a)S  TOV  K7^VO"OV  (XIl) 

tB' 

■7r£pt  T^s  Toiv  aTrocTToAojv  Staray^s  (vi) 

Xr,' 

7r£pt  TOJV  o"a8SovKttt'ajv  (xil) 

It 

Trepl  loidwov  koL  -^ptxiBov  (vi) 

X6' 

Trepi  TOV  ypap.fji.aTew%  (xil) 

t 

IS 

Trepl  T(i)v  e'  dpTu)v  kuI  toiv      i^^tjojv  (vi) 

7r£pi    T^s    TOV    K(vpLo)v  e7r£p(0T);a'£a>s 

7r€/3t  TOV  iv  OaXdaar}  TrepiTraTov  (vi) 

(XII) 

17]' 

Trepi  Ttjs  Trapa/Sdaew;  r^s  fvToA^s  tov 

fxa' 

TTfpt  T^s  Ttt  Svo  A£7rTa  XVP"-'^  (x'O 

6{eo)v  (vil) 

Pif3' 

TTEpt  T^s  crwTeA£tas  (xil) 

lO' 

7r£jOi  T^s  <f)oivLKLaarj<;  (vil) 

m\ 

TTEpi  T^s  rj/xepa^  Kal  (upas  (xill) 

1 

K 

7r£(/3t)  TO?  /u,oyyiAdAov  (vil) 

fxB 

Tr£pt  T^s  dXeupdo'T)';  tov  K(^vpLo)v  /u.vpaj 

Ka' 

Trepl  Twv  t,'  dpTwv  (vill) 

(xiv) 

Trepl  T^s  l,vp.ri%  twv  <f>upi<Taiwv  (viIl) 

fie 

TTEpt  TOV  Trdaxa  (xiv) 

Ky 

Trepl  TOV  Tvc^Aov  (vill) 

/AS 

7r£pt  T^s  TrapaSocrews  irpo<l)r]TeLa  (xiv) 

k8' 

Trepl  T^s  iv  KaicrapeLa  iTrepwT-qcrt^m'i) 

apwrjais  TrtTpov  (xiv) 

(VIII) 

7r£pi  T^s  aiTrjcrews  tov  KvpiaKOv  awfia- 

Ke' 

Trepl  T^s  fi€Tap.op(f>o)(Tt(ii<i  tov  i{T]ao)v 

Tos  tov  Kiypio^v  (xv) 

(IX) 

The  portion  of  the  manuscript  in  Mr.  Freer's  possession  con- 
sists of  five  parchment  leaves  which  show  much  hard  usage, 
particularly  at  the  upper  outer  corner,  where  the  missing  parch- 
ment has  been  replaced  with  paper,  while  the  inner  edge  shows  in 
the  case  of  nearly  all  the  leaves  that  they  were  torn  and  not  cut 
from  the  original  binding.  The  following  list  shows  the  dimen- 
sions of  the  leaves,  and  the  distribution  of  the  miniatures : 

Fol.  I.  26.9  X  19. 1  cm. 

Recto,  Portrait  of  St.  Mark,  18.4  x  14.3  cm.  (Plate  III). 
Verso,  Index  of  selections  from  the  Gospel  of  Mark  (Plate  IV). 

Fol.  II.   27  X  19.4  cm. 

Recto,  Descent  from  the  Cross.  14.3  x  21.1  cm.  (Plate  VI). 
Verso,  Portrait  of  St.  John.  13  x  11.7  cm.  (Plate  V). 


GOSPEL  MINIATURES 


33 


Fol.  III.   26.1  X  17. 1  cm. 

Recto,  Descent  into  Hell,  20.4  x  14.3  cm.  (Plate  VII). 
Verso,  Doubting  of  Thomas,  20.4  x  14  cm.  (Plate  VIII). 

Fol.  IV.  26.1  X  17.5  cm. 

Recto,  Christ  and  the  Holy  Women,  20.1  x  14.3  cm.  (Plate  IX). 
Verso,  Madonna  and  Saints,  17. i  x  15.6  cm.  (Plate  X). 

Fol.  V.  26.1  x  16.5  cm. 

Recto,  Two  Saints,  15.6  x  13.5  cm. 
Verso,  no  miniature. 

Folio  I  has  a  row  of  holes  in  its  outer  edge,  which  indicates  a 
rebinding.  It  is  the  best  preserved  of  the  leaves  and  gives  an 
idea  of  the  original  dimensions  of  the  codex,  which  must  have 
measured  about  27  x  19  cm.  A  red  border  surrounds  the  minia- 
tures in  every  case,  and  all  but  one,  the  portrait  of  St.  John,  fill 
the  page.  The  large  size  of  the  miniatures,  and  the  fact  that 
the  infrequent  scenes  of  Christ  and  the  Holy  Women  and  the 
Doubting  of  Thomas  are  included  in  the  surviving  group,  betoken 
a  manuscript  of  unusual  richness  of  illustration  ;  it  is  probably 
safe  to  conjecture  that  the  original  codex  contained  from  twenty  to 
forty  miniatures. 

The  position  of  the  eight  remaining  miniatures  in  the  original 
manuscript  may  be  determined  with  reasonable  certainty.  Fol.  I 
recto  is  clearly  the  initial  miniature  of  Mark;  it  bears  on  its  verso 
the  list  of  chapters  of  his  Gospel.  Fol.  II  recto,  the  Descent  from 
the  Cross,  is  the  last  miniature  in  Luke,  since  the  verso  contains 
the  portrait  of  St.  John  with  the  index  to  his  Gospel  and  thus 
constituted  an  initial  page.  The  next  miniature  after  this  was 
certainly  the  Descent  into  Hell,  fol.  Ill  recto,  that  being,  as  we 
shall  see  later,  the  distinctive  illustration  of  the  fourth  Gospel  and 
regularly  leading  its  group  of  miniatures.  The  verso  of  this  leaf 
contains  the  Doubting  of  Thomas,  a  characteristically  Johannine 
incident  and  indeed  recorded  only  by  the  fourth  Gospel.  But  it 
will  also  be  noted  that  the  damage  to  the  upper  outer  corner  of 
the  leaves  is  progressively  greater  as  we  proceed  toward  the  end 
of  the  book.  Thus  the  leaf  containing  the  initial  miniature  of 
Mark,  fol.  I,  which  was  situated  well  toward  the  front  of  the  codex, 
has  suffered  comparatively  little.  The  initial  miniature  of  John, 
on  the  other  hand,  has  lost  considerably  more  of  the  corner. 
Fol.  Ill  has  lost  a  great  deal  more,  which  indicates  that  a  con- 
siderable number  of  leaves  intervened  between  it  and  fol.  II.  A 


34 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


proportionate  increase  in  the  damage  done  to  the  corner  is  seen  in 
fol.  IV,  and  the  half-demoHshed  state  of  fol.  V  suggests  a  position 
near  the  end  of  the  book. 

ii.  Portraits  of  Mark  and  John 

The  initial  miniature  of  Mark  (foh  I  recto  ;  Plate  III)  depicts 
the  Evangelist,  clad  in  blue  tunic  and  violet  pallium,  seated  on  a 
chair  set  before  a  rectangular  house  with  gilded  roof  and  gray-blue 
fa9ade.  Traces  of  color  remaining  on  his  beard  show  that  his 
hair  was  dark.  His  feet  rest  on  a  golden  footstool.  Before  him 
stands  his  writing  table,  on  which  is  set  a  lectern,  and  the  Evange- 
list, with  an  indeterminate  gesture  of  his  right  hand,  places  a 
written  page  upon,  or  withdraws  it  from,  the  lectern.  On  his 
knees  rests  the  open  book  of  his  Gospel,  inscribed  with  the 
partially  obliterated  text  of  the  initial  phrase :  (apx^r)  tov)  evayye- 
\i(ov  Irjaov  ^ptcrTov)  vtoC  tov  0eov.  Remnants  of  letters  are  also  to 
be  seen  on  the  leaf  which  Mark  holds  in  his  riorht  hand.  In  the 
field  of  the  upper  part  of  the  page  we  can  make  out  portions  of  an 
inscription  which  contained  the  name  MAPKOC-  The  facsimile 
reproduction  (Plate  III)  obviates  the  necessity  of  a  detailed  descrip- 
tion of  the  colors  employed.  The  background,  which  is  almost 
gone,  was  originally  in  gold,  save  for  the  green  strip  representing 
the  ground  which  fills  the  bottom  of  the  picture.  The  type  is 
simply  a  variation  of  the  Byzantine  author  type  whose  origin  was 
discussed  above  (p.  i6),  the  chief  difference  being  the  unusual 
gesture  of  the  Evangelist's  right  arm  and  hand.  There  remains 
but  one  detail  of  the  iconography  to  be  considered,  and  this 
is  of  first-rate  importance. 

I  refer  to  the  bird  which  perches  on  one  leg  on  the  upper 
right-hand  corner  of  the  lectern  and  with  the  other  leg  supports  an 
open  book.  Two  possible  interpretations  present  themselves  to  a 
preliminary  view.  The  bird  may  be  a  dove  representing  the  Holy 
Spirit,  the  divine  inspiration  of  the  writer,  or  may  be  the  indi- 
vidual symbol  of  the  Evangelist  himself.  One  or  the  other  of 
these  explanations  is  applicable  in  like  fashion  to  the  similar  motif 
in  the  miniature  representing  St.  John  (Plate  V).  Here  we  see 
the  Evangelist  seated  in  much  the  same  surroundings  as  Mark. 
The  background,  originally  gold,  contains  a  fragmentary  inscrip- 
tion in  red.  The  writing  desk,  lectern  and  footstool  are  in  gold 
with  black  lines.    The  ground-strip  is  gray-blue,  which  seems 


Plate  III 


St.  Mark 


ri.ATi:  I\' 


r 


6fC>>->^<r-  f  e  -irf^«'-r.p«rt.''^ooir«^e«*»*«^-^  T-w-tt'^T^'c  <^T♦iMJ'^«=0<^ 
^^V^*""^''' ''f-  /6%^c»'-n»cCj^o,^.,Lciw-<r»  Cr     K  "7^»'''**-^•^^7V*'A•*'f• 


India  oi   Si;i.i;(  iions  i  uom  iin;  (iosi'r.i,  oi-  M akk 


GOSPEL  MINIATURES 


35 


to  have  been  also  the  color  of  the  Evangelist's  pallium.  The 
figure  of  John,  however,  has  lost  practically  all  of  its  color.  Be- 
hind him  is  a  rectangular  building  in  violet,  and  to  the  right  of 
the  picture  a  square  tower  in  violet,  gray-blue  and  green.  The 
Evangelist  is  depicted  in  the  act  of  writing  his  gospel,  and  the 
book  in  which  he  writes  retains  traces  of  letters  in  red.  An  open 
book  lies  upon  the  lectern,  inscribed  with  letters  in  red,  portions 
of  which  still  survive.  Lastly,  the  bird  on  Mark's  lectern  is  here 
replaced  by  a  human  half-figure,  holding  again  a  half-opened  book. 
Bird  in  one  case  and  man  in 
the  other  must  be  subject  to 
the  same  relative  explanation. 

The  inspiration  motif  is  not 
uncommon  in  portraits  of  the 
Evangelists.  It  occurs  as  early 
as  the  sixth  century,  to  which 
period  belongs  the  miniature 
from  the  Rossano  Gospel,  here 
reproduced  (Fig.  15).  The  fe- 
male figure  with  the  nimbus, 
dictating  to  Mark,  has  been 
variously  interpreted  as  Mary, 
or  Divine  Wisdom,  or  the 
Church.'  In  any  case,  it  is  the 
Christian  translation  of  a  motif 
like  the  Spirit  of  Discovery 
(evpecTL^)  which  stands  in  front 
of  Dioscurides  in  the  Vienna 
manu.script  of  that  author  (see 
p.  16)  and  may  be  taken  as  a  type  of  divine  inspiration.  A 
female  personification  of  this  sort  reappears  as  the  inspiration  of 
Matthew  in  a  Serb-slavonic  psalter  of  the  thirteenth  century  in 
the  Chilandari  monastery  on  Mt.  Athos.'''  This  figure  is  labelled 
"  Premoudrost,"  or  "  Wisdom,"  and  a  similar  significance  is  to  be 
attached  to  the  female  half-figure  which  seems  to  dictate  to  John 
in  a  thirteenth  century  relief  on  the  basilica  of  St.  Mark's  at 
Venice^  (Fig.  16).    The  South  Italian  manuscript  from  which 

'  Gebhardt  and  Harnack.  Codex Purpu>  ens  Rossanensis,  Leipzig.  1880.  p.  XLVI. 

Brockhaus,  op.  cit.  p.  235.  pi.  28. 
3  H.  von  der  Gabelentz,  Mittelalterliche  Flastik  in  Venedig,  p.  141. 


FIG.  15.  St.  Mark  Writing  his  Gospel. 
Miniature  of  the  Codex  Rossanensis. 


A  female  personification  (Divine  Wisdom?)  dic- 
tates to  the  Evangelist. 


36 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


the  famous  Durham  Book  (circ.  700)  was  copied  must  have 
further  defined  the  motif  by  introducing  the  Logos  as  the  inspir- 
ing familiar  of  the  Evangelist,  for  on  the  initial  page  of  Matthew 
in  the  Durham  Book  (Fig.  17)  we  see  a  nimbed  and  bearded  head 
peeping  out  from  behind  a  curtain,  which  cannot  be  interpreted  in 
any  other  way.  The  winged  angel  which  is  the  personal  symbol 
of  the  Evangelist  himself  appears  above  his  head  with  the  label : 
Imago  hoininis} 

The  post-iconoclastic  period  made  little  use  of  such  elaborate 
motifs  in  the  portraits  of  evangelists,  and  the  usual  method  of  ren- 


FIG.  16.    CiiKisr,  Sr.  J(jhn,  .\ni)  St.  M.\tthe\v.     Rei.ieks  on  St.  M.\rk's  .\t  Venice. 


dering  the  notion  of  divine  inspiration  was  the  introduction  of  the 
Dextera  Domini  issuing  from  the  heavens  above  the  writer's  head, 
as  in  the  portrait  of  St.  John  Climacus  (Plate  I).''^  But  other 
devices  are  found,  as  for  example  the  dove  which  whispers  in  the 
ear  of  Mark  in  a  Gospel  of  the  twelfth  century  in  the  Bibliotheque 
Nationale  at  Paris,'^  and  the  winged  genii  at  the  ears  of  Mark  and 
Luke  in  a  Latin  manuscript  of  the  same  library,  with  Byzantine 

1  The  motif  is  repeated  in  an  Anglo-Saxon  Gospel  of  the  eleventh  century  at  Copenhagen 
(Westwood,  The  Miniatjires  and  Ornatnents  of  Anglo-Saxon  and  Irish  Maniiscripis,  pi.  41 ). 

2  This  motif  is  found  in  the  following:  Ms.  in  Claudin  Sale  1877  (Bordier,  op.  cit.  p. 
306,  XII  cent.)  ;  Vat.  Urb.  gr.  2,  an.  1143  (D'Agincourt,  op.  cit.  V.  pi.  lix)  ;  Paris,  Bibl. 
Nat.  gr.  Suppl.  242,  an.  1650  (Bordier,  op. cit.  p.  295).  In  Slavic  manuscripts  the  Hand  is 
often  replaced  by  rays,  particularly  in  the  case  of  John  (Likhatcheflf,  Materiaux pour  Vhist. 
de  riconographie  rnsse,  pi.  375,  Ms.  of  the  year  1531). 

8  Bibl.  Nat.  gr.  51  (Bordier,  op.  cit.  ^.  181).  Cf.  the  same  motif  in  a  manuscript  in  the 
Ambrosian  Library  at  Milan  (D.  67,  suppl.  Reproduced  in  Mufioz,  LArt  byzantin  aVEx- 
position  de  Grottaf errata,  fig.  63). 


GOSPEL  MINIATURES 


37 


miniatures,  also  of  the  twelfth  century.'  In  a  late  Byzantine  man- 
uscript (an.  1650)  in  the  Bibliotheque  Nationale,'  the  inspiration 
type  and  the  Evangelist's  symbol  seem  to  have  become  confused, 
for  there  we  find  St.  John  dictating  to  Prochorus,  but  listening 
at  the  same  time,  with  hand  to  ear,  to  the  eagle  which  soars 
above  him  ;  and  the  angel  of  St.  Matthew  appears  behind  the  Evan- 
gelist and  seems  to  dictate  to  him  in  the  same  way.  All  these 
devices  are  employed  in  Slavic  manuscripts  of  the  modern  j^eriod.'* 

It  will  have  been  observed, 
however,  that  in  all  of  these 
"  inspiration  types,"  the  relation 
of  the  writer  to  the  angel  or  dove 
or  personification  is  an  intimate 
one.  This  was  expressed  in  the 
later  Byzantine  painting,  the 
epoch  in  which  our  miniatures 
belong,  in  the  rather  obvious 
fashion  of  depicting  the  medium 
of  inspiration  behind  the  evan- 
gelist and  whispering  in  his  ear. 
Our  bird  and  "angel,"  on  the 
other  hand,  however  much  they 
may  give  the  impression  of  dic- 
tation by  the  open  book  which 
each  is  holding,  are  nevertheless 
in  no  such  close  communication 
with  the  holy  scribes.  Neither  Evangelist  looks  as  if  he  were  listen- 
ing to  the  Divine  Voice.  The  relative  position  of  the  bird  and 
the  human  figure  does  not  differ  much  in  fact  from  that  given  to 
the  symbols  of  the  Evangelists  in  a  Lombard  relief  decorating  a 
sarcophagus  in  S.  Zeno  at  Verona  (XI-XII  century;  Fig.  18)/ 

May  not  they,  the  bird  and  angel  of  our  miniatures,  be  then 
symbols  of  the  two  Evangelists.'*  Two  objections  to  this  view  im- 
mediately arise :  the  familiar  symbol  of  Mark  is  not  the  eagle 
(supposing  that  our  bird  may  so  be  interpreted),  but  the  lion,  while 

'  Bibl.  Nat.  lat.  276  (Bordier.  op.  cit.  p.  302).  -  Suppl.  242  (Bordier.  op.  cit.  p.  294). 
•''  Likhatcheff,  op.  cit.  plates  144,  145.  245. 

■*  A  rendering  of  the  symbols  above  the  lecterns  which  is  practically  identical  with  that 
of  the  Freer  miniatures  is  found  in  the  portraits  of  Matthew  and  Mark  on  some  Rhenish- 
Byzantine  ivory  plaques  in  the  Louvre,  assigned  to  the  tenth  or  eleventh  century. 


FIG.  17.  St.  Matthew  writing  his  Gos- 
pel.   Miniature  of  the  Durham  Book. 


38 


EAST  CHRISTIAN 


PAINTINGS 


that  of  John  is  not  the  man,  but  the  eagle ;  and  second,  the  sym- 
bols of  the  EvangeHsts  are  rare  in  Byzantine  manuscripts  and  are 
commonly  supposed  to  occur  only  at  an  epoch  much  later  than 
that  to  which  our  miniatures  must  be  assigned. 

The  four  beasts  of  Ezekiel  and  Revelation  were  given  the 
significance  of  the  four  Evangelists  as  early  as  the  second  cen- 
tury,' and  the  identification  of  the  types  which  ultimately  became 
current  in  the  West  was  that  laid  down  by  Jerome,  according  to 
which  the  beast  "  with  a  face  as  a  man  "  was  Matthew,  the  one 
"like  a  lion  "  was  Mark,  the  one  "like  a  calf"  was  Luke,  and  the 
fourth  beast  "  like  a  flying  eagle  "  was  John.    But  the  Fathers  did 


FICi.  18.    The  Cruciki.kion'  and  the  Four  Evangelists.    Relief  of  a  Sarcophagus 

IN  S.  Zen(J,  Verona. 

Above  the  cross  are  half-figures  of  angels.    The  symbols  of  the  Evangelists  are  depicted  as  if  resting 
on  small  ledges  above  the  lecterns. 


not  all  agree  with  Jerome.  Irenaeus,  for  example,  associates  the 
lion  with  John,  the  man  with  Matthew,  the  calf  with  Luke,  and  the 
eagle  with  Mark ;  Athanasius  gives  no  symbol  to  Matthew,  but 
assigns  the  calf  to  Mark,  the  lion  to  Luke, and  the  eagle  to  John; 
Augustine  refers  the  lion  to  Matthew,  the  man  to  Mark,  the  calf 
to  Luke,  and  the  eagle  to  John. 

The  earliest  example  of  the  use  of  the  four  beasts  in  art  is 
found  in  the  apsidal  mosaic  of  the  church  of  S.  Pudenziana  at 
Rome,  which  dates  near  the  end  of  the  fourth  century ;  from  that 
time  on  they  are  frequent  enough.  But  their  first  appearance  to- 
gether with  the  Evangelists  themselves,  where  each  beast  is  de- 
picted as  the  individual  sign  of  each  Evangelist,  was  in  the  mosaic 

'  Ezekiel,  i,  4  ff.  Rev.  iv.  6  ff.  Cf.  Kraus,  Realcncyklopiidie  der  christl.  Altertilmcr, 
I.  p.  4i;6.  and  Trench,  Sacred  Latin  Poetry,  p.  62,  note  12. 


Plate  \' 


r        -  , 


,z  ^  '         I    ^  ^     ^'  / 

Trip,  •7«i/«^ec/  ^ 


.S  r.  John 


Plate  \'I 


GOSPEL  MINIATURES 


39 


ceiling  of  the  chapel  of  St.  John  Baptist  in  the  Lateran  Bap- 
tistery, an  addition  due  to  Pope  Hilary  (461-468).  This  mosaic 
is  now  destroyed/  and  the  earliest  existing  example  of  the  in- 
dividual distribution  of  the  symbols  is  furnished  by  the  mosaics 
of  the  choir  of  S.  Vitale  at  Ravenna  of  the  sixth  century,  where, 
as  in  the  lost  mosaic,  the  beasts  are  assigned  after  the  manner 
of  Jerome.  This  rule  became  the  customary  one  for  the  Western 
artists  of  the  Middle  Ages,  chiefly  through  the  influence  of 
Gregory  the  Great,  who  adopted  Jerome's  interpretation  ;  in  the 
East,  however,  the  artists  contented  themselves  with  occasionally 
depicting  the  four  symbols,  often  combining  them  in  a  single 
figure  known  as  the  Tetramorphon,  but  never,  during  the  great 
period,  associating  them  severally  with  the  Evangelists. 

It  came  to  be  generally  believed,  therefore,  that  the  symbols 
are  never  associated  with  the  Evangelists  in  Byzantine  Art  until 
very  late  times  ;  and  this  view  is  reflected  in  the  latest  handbook 
on  illuminated  manuscripts,  by  J.  A.  Herbert,-  who  says  that  the 
symbols  in  this  connection  "  are  practically  unknown  "  in  Byzan- 
tine manuscripts,  pointing  out  that  their  first  appearance  in  those 
of  the  British  Museum  is  in  a  manuscript  of  1326,  while  the 
Vatican  manuscripts  are  said  to  contain  no  example  at  all  of  their 
use.  There  are  cases,  however,  of  their  occurrence  earlier  than 
the  fourteenth  century,  and  two  very  interesting  examples  on  Mt. 
Athos  are  cited  by  Brockhaus.^  The  first  is  a  Tetraevangelon  in 
the  Vatopedi  monastery  (no.  713),  which,  while  it  gives  no  symbol 
to  Matthew,  assigns  the  eagle  to  Mark,  the  calf  to  Luke,  and  the 
lion  to  John,  thus  following  the  interpretation  of  Irenaeus.*  The 
symbols  are  painted  on  separate  pages,  but  with  obvious  relation 
to  the  Evangelists,  whose  portraits  appear  on  the  following  pages, 
or,  in  the  case  of  Mark,  on  the  next  page  thereafter.  Here  the 
eagle  is  given  as  the  symbol  of  the  Evangelist,  and  is  further 
certified  as  his  type  by  the  book  which  it  carries,  and  by  the 
inscription :  6  a{yLoq)  MdpKo<;.  The  other  manuscript,  in  the 
Dochiariu  monastery  (no.  52),  has  lost  the  portraits  of  two  of 
the  Evangelists,  but  still  retains  the  image  of  Matthew,  with  an 

1  Ciampini's  copy  of  the  mosaic  is  reproduced  in  Garrucci,  Storia  deW  Arte  cristiana, 
IV,  pi.  239. 

^  J.  A.  Herbert,  Illuviinated  Manuscripts.  2d  ed.,  London,  1912.  p.  62. 
^  Op.  cit.  p.  224  ff. 

^  The  same  distribution  is  used  on  the  Russian  doors  reproduced  in  Likhatcheff  {op.  cit. 
pi.  145),  and  the  man  is  added  for  Matthew. 


40 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


indeterminate  bird  ("probably  an  eagle,"  says  Brockhaus)  painted 
on  the  opposite  page,  and  of  Luke,  opposite  whom  appears  the 
calf.  Both  of  the  symbols  are  nimbed  and  carry  golden  books. 
The  bird  is  inscribed  with  the  puzzling  word  3 1  TO,  while  BOC 
is  written  beside  the  figure  of  the  calf.  The  first  of  these  manu- 
scripts is  included  among  the  undated  manuscripts  of  the  eleventh 
and  twelfth  centuries  by  Brockhaus,  and  the  second  is  dated 
definitely  in  the  twelfth  century  by  Lambros.^ 

From  this  it  is  apparent  that  in  the  twelfth  century  the  Byzan- 
tine miniaturists  not  only  used  the  symbols  on  occasion  but  dis- 
tributed them  differently  than  in  the  West,  and  without  a  fixed 
association  of  symbol  with  Evangelist,  save  perhaps  in  the  case 
of  the  calf  and  Luke.  The  eagle  in  the  Vatopedi  manuscript 
stands  for  Mark,  while  in  the  gospels  of  Dochiariu  it  represents 
Matthew.  In  the  light  of  this  evidence,  and  the  fact  that,  ex- 
plained as  "  inspiration  types,"  our  symbols  would  be  inconsistent 
with  the  usual  treatment  of  such  types  in  Byzantine  art,  I  feel 
assured  that  the  artist  intended  his  bird  and  man  as  symbols 
of  Mark  and  John.  The  bird  is  certainly  not  a  successful  attempt 
at  an  eagle,  but  we  cannot  expect  too  much  in  Byzantine  animal 
painting  at  this  period,  and  it  is  hardly  more  convincing  as  a 
dove.  It  will  be  remembered  moreover  that  the  eagle  of  the 
Dochiariu  manuscript  seems  to  have  impressed  Brockhaus  as  an 
unconvincing  bird,  and  we  have  the  use  of  the  eagle  as  Mark's 
symbol  in  the  gospels  of  Vatopedi  as  a  parallel  to  the  Freer 
miniature.  The  latter  and  its  fellow  must  therefore  be  accepted 
as  examples  of  a  very  rare  motif  in  Byzantine  art. 

Are  we  to  ascribe  the  late  appearance  of  the  Evangelist 
symbols  in  Byzantine  painting  to  Western  influence  ?  The  main 
consideration  to  be  urged  for  this  would  be  the  fact  that  they  are 
typical  of  Western  art,  while  there  is  no  tradition  in  Byzantine 
to  account  for  them.  The  Latin  label  BOC,  dos,  for  the  calf  of 
Luke  in  the  gospel  of  Dochiariu  points  in  the  same  direction. 
But  on  the  other  hand,  if  we  were  dealing  with  a  borrowed  type, 
we  should  expect  the  symbols  to  be  distributed  as  they  are  in  the 
West,  whereas  they  are  used  in  a  very  unsettled  manner,  and  not 
as  a  rule  with  the  Western  distribution.  It  is  hardly  possible 
therefore  to  cite  the  use  of  the  symbols  as  evidence  of  the  prob- 
lematic Western  strain  in  late  Byzantine  art, 

^  Ce7/.  I,  p.  238,  no.  2726.52. 


GOSPEL  MINIATURES 


41 


iii.  The  Descent  from  the  Cross — Plate  VI 

The  recto  of  the  leaf  which  contains  on  its  verso  the  portrait 
of  St.  John  is  decorated  with  a  miniature  representing  the  De- 
scent from  the  Cross,  the  final  illustration  of  Luke.  The  colors  are 
indicated  by  the  facsimile.  The  upper  transverse  piece  of  the 
Cross  represents  the  tihiliis  which  Pilate  placed  above  the  head 
of  the  Crucified :  lesus  Nazarenus  Rex  hidaeoriim.  Christ's  feet 
rest  as  usual  upon  the  siippedaneum.  Joseph  of  Arimathea, 
standing  on  a  stool,  clasps  the  dead  body  of  the  Lord.  To  the 
left  we  see  Mary  Magdalen  and  the  Virgin,  who  stands  like  a 
statue  on  a  pedestal,  and  presses  the  hand  of  her  dead  Son  to 
her  cheek.  Nicodemus  climbs  a  step-ladder  and  removes  the 
nail  from  Christ's  left  hand,  while  the  Beloved  Disciple  below 
bends  above  the  siippedaneum  to  wipe  the  blood  from  the  feet 
of  his  Master.' 

The  scene  is  not  an  early  one  in  Christian  art,  and  first 
appears,  so  far  as  I  know,  in  the  famous  Homilies  of  Gregory 
of  Nazianzus  of  the  ninth  century,  which  is  preserved  in  the 
Bibliotheque  Nationale  at  Paris  (Fig.  19,  i).'^  The  compo- 
sition is  that  of  the  Freer  miniature  in  a  primitive  stage  of  its 
evolution.  Nicodemus'^  has  no  ladder,  and  is  placed  on  the 
left  side  of  the  cross,  while  John  stands  with  the  Virgin  to  the 
right,  in  place  of  the  Magdalen.  Further  on  to  the  right  appears 
the  following  scene,  Joseph  and  Nicodemus  carrying  off  the  body 
for  burial.  The  next  stage  of  development  is  to  be  seen  in  a 
Gospel  of  the  same  library,^  wherein  Nicodemus  stands  on 
a  ladder,  and  Joseph  of  Arimathea  on  a  stool ;  St.  John  takes  his 
position  to  the  right  of  the  cross,  while  the  Virgin  to  the  left  is 

^  The  background  and  nimbus  of  the  Christ  were  originally  gold,  with  a  green  ground- 
strip  at  the  bottom  of  the  picture.  The  Marys  wore  violet  mantles  over  undergarments 
which  seem  to  have  been  blue.  Joseph  of  Arimathea  wears  a  brownish  pink  pallium,  and 
Nicodemus'  tunic  is  violet.  The  cross  is  striped  with  brown  and  black.  The  colors  of 
John's  garments  and  of  the  loin-cloth  of  Christ  are  indeterminate. 

Ms.  gr.  510,  fol.  30,  vcrso^  Omont,  Fac-sitnilcs  des  Miniatures  dcs  Mss.  grecs  de  la 
Bibl.  Nat.,  pi.  XXI. 

8  I  have  used  the  name  Nicodemus  for  convenience.  It  is  scarcely  likely,  however, 
that  the  earlier  artists  who  dressed  the  man  removing  the  nails  in  a  simple  tunic  meant  to 
represent  the  patrician  Nicodemus,  and  probably  we  are  to  suppose  him  present  only  when 
the  pallium  is  added  to  his  costume,  as  in  the  examples  of  the  thirteenth  century. 

Ms.  gr.  74.  Omont,  Evangile  avec  peititures  byzantines  du  X/f  siecle,  pi.  52.  This 
manuscript  contains  also  a  second  rendering  of  the  scene  which  is  a  primitive  form  of  the 
later  type  described  on  p.  44. 


42 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


accompanied  by  the  Magdalen  and  the  other  Mary  (Fig.  19,  2). 
The  carrying  of  the  body  follows  as  before  to  the  right. 

In  the  incised  design  of  one  of  the  panels  of  the  bronze  doors 
of  St.  Paul's  at  Rome  (late  eleventh  century,  Fig.  19,  3),  the  com- 
position has  finally  arrived  at  a  form  closely  resembling  that  of 
the  Freer  miniature,  though  the  sides  are  again  reversed.  Here 
we  have  angels  introduced  above  the  cross,  a  motif  derived  from 
the  Crucifixion.    Joseph  of  Arimathea  appears  behind  the  body 


FIG.  19.    Examples  ok  the  Descent  from  the  Cross,  showing  the  Evo- 

LUTKJN    OF    its  ICONOGRAPHY  FROM  THE  NiNTH  TO  THE  TWELFTH  CeNTURY. 


of  the  Lord,  but  again  stands  upon  a  footstool  or  pedestal,  and 
two  other  motifs  of  the  Freer  Descent  from  the  Cross  are  present, 
the  gesture  of  Mary  as  she  presses  the  hand  of  her  Son  to  her 
cheek,  and  that  of  John  who  bends  to  wipe  the  blood  from  the 
feet  of  Christ.  In  the  early  twelfth  century  we  find  the  scene 
represented  in  the  Melissenda  Psalter  of  the  British  Museum 
(Fig.  20),  where  the  composition  is  simplified,  and  John  replaces 
the  Magdalen  at  the  Virgin's  side.  Next  after  this  must  be 
placed  the  Freer  miniature,  which  combines  the  compositions  of 


GOSPEL  MINIATURES 


43 


the  Psalter  and  the  doors  of  St.  Paul's,  except  that  Nicodemus 
wears  a  sleeved  tunic  instead  of  the  exomis  of  the  Psalter,  while 
Mary  stands  upon  a  pedestal,  and  is  accompanied  by  the  Magdalen. 

The  P'reer  scene  is  typical  of  the  Byzantine  decadence  in  its 
contradictions — the  circumstantial  details  and  the  spirited  move- 
ment of  Nicodemus  contrasting  with  the  mannered  attitude  of 


FIG.  20.    The  Descent  from  the  Cross.    Miniature  of 
THE  Melissend.\  Psalter  in  the  British  Museum. 


Mary  and  the  artificial  effect  of  the  pedestal  on  which  she  stands. 
The  feature  which  clearly  puts  the  Freer  miniature  later  than  the 
Psalter  is  the  omission  of  the  angels,  which  seldom  appear  in  the 
later  versions;  thus  they  are  omitted  in  a  gospel  of  the  Iviron 
monastery  on  Mt.  Athos  ^  which   Brockhaus  dates  "  ungefahr 

1  Iviron  5  (Brockhaus,  op.  cit.  p.  217  ff.).  Cf.  the  similar  composition  on  the  doors  of 
the  cathedrals  of  Trani  and  Ravello  in  South  Italy  (Schulz.  Denkvuilcr  dcr  Kitnst  in  Untcr- 
italien,  pi.  xxv).    These  doors  date  in  the  latter  half  of  the  twelfth  century.    The  transi- 


44 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


aus  dem  12.  Jahrhundert."  Here  also  two  more  distinctive 
features  of  the  later  composition  are  met  with  —  the  arms  of  Christ 
are  both  detached  from  the  cross,  and  Nicodemus  applies  his 
pincers  to  the  nails  in  the  feet.  Joseph  clasps  the  body  of  Christ 
as  before,  but,  with  a  curious  effort  at  realism,  his  body  is  pro- 
tected from  the  flowing  blood  by  a  towel  worn  over  the  shoulder. 


FIG.  21.    The  Descent  from  the  Cross,  from  Duccio's  Altar-piece. 


The  Virgin  is  depicted  as  before,  pressing  Christ's  hand  to  her 
cheek,  but  is  now  accompanied  not  only  by  the  Magdalen  but 
also  by  the  other  Mary.  To  the  right  stands  St.  John,  who  has 
given  up  his  former  position  to  Nicodemus.  Lastly,  below  the 
cross,  appears  a  white  mass  which  is  probably  meant  to  represent 
Adam's  skull,  with  symbolic  reference  to  the  name  of  Golgotha. 

tional  nature  of  the  theme  as  here  treated  is  shown  by  the  presence  of  the  angels,  though 
the  body  of  Christ  is  detached  from  the  cross.  On  a  steatite  carving  in  the  Museo  Cris- 
tiano  of  the  Vatican  (Munoz,  op.  cit.  fig.  86)  the  body  is  detached,  stars  replace  the  angels, 
Joseph  of  Arimathea,  standing  behind  Christ,  clasps  His  body,  and  Nicodemus  removes 
the  nails  from  the  feet.  Such  a  rendering  of  the  scene  should  serve  to  date  the  monument 
circ.  1 200. 


GOSPEL  MINIATURES 


45 


The  whole  composition  is  repeated  in  a  Gospel  in  Paris  of  the 
thirteenth  century/  and  is  the  source  of  later  representations, 
as  may  be  seen  from  Duccio's  rendering  in  his  famous  altar-piece 
at  Siena  (Fig.  21).-  The  intermediate  character  of  the  Freer 
miniature  gives  it  unusual  importance  in  the  development  of 
Byzantine  iconography,  and,  as  will  be  apparent  later  on,  is  of 
great  value  in  determining  the  date  of  the  manuscript  from  which 
it  was  taken. 

iv.  The  Descent  into  Hell — Plate  VII 

Folio  III  recto  is  the  next  page  in  order.  While  the  increased 
damage  to  the  corner  shows  that  the  leaf  was  some  distance 
further  on  in  the  original  codex,  the  miniature  in  question  was 
without  much  doubt  the  first  after  the  initial  page  of  John's 
Gospel,  for  this  is  the  position  regularly  occupied  by  the  Descent 
into  Hell.'^  The  curious  connection  with  John  was  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  lection  for  Easter  in  the  Greek  church  was  taken 
from  the  fourth  Gospel,  and  the  corresponding  pictorial  type  was 
not  the  Risen  Christ,  but  the  Descent  into  Hell.  The  Painter's 
Manual  (see  p.  20)  indeed  gives  circumstantial  directions  for 
painting  the  Resurrection,  but  it  is  nevertheless  a  fact  that  the 
subject  is  rare  in  Byzantine  art  of  the  tenth,  eleventh,  and  twelfth 
centuries,  and  absent  entirely  in  the  mosaics  and  frescoes  of 
the  churches  of  that  period.^     The  theological  considerations 

1  Bibl.  Nat.  Ms.  gr.  54  fol.  \oj  recto  (Bordier,  op.cit.  p.  230,  fig.  121).  A  similar 
treatment,  omitting  Mary's  companions  and  the  skull,  is  seen  on  an  ivory  of  the  Chalandon 
collection  in  Paris,  dating  in  the  thirteenth  century  (E.  Molinier,  Man.  et  Mem.  Fond.  Fiot. 
1896,  p.  126,  fig.  i). 

^  A  curious  variant  of  the  fourteenth  century  is  found  at  Mistra  in  the  Peribleptos  (Millet, 
Mon.  byz.  de  Mistra,  pi.  122,  3).  In  this  fresco  the  Magdalen  holds  the  hand  of  Christ, 
and  both  the  Virgin  and  Jose]3h  clasp  the  body  in  their  arms.  Above  the  cross  are  weep- 
ing angels.  Here  also  the  Virgin  stands  upon  a  stool.  The  fresco  is  much  like  the  scene 
described  in  the  Painter's  Manual. 

*  The  color  scheme  is  indicated  by  the  facsimile.  Christ  wears  a  sleeved  tunic  of  red- 
dish color  which  is  probably  the  priming  for  the  same  gilding  that  originally  covered  the 
pallium.  Eve  has  a  blue  under-garment  and  a  mantle  of  red.  Adam  wears  a  violet  pallium. 
David's  tunic  was  red,  and  his  pallium  blue,  bordered  with  gold.  The  details  of  Solomon's 
costume  cannot  be  determined.  The  sarcophagus  in  which  Adam  kneels  is  colored  brown- 
ish pink,  and  streaked  with  purple,  while  that  of  the  kings  was  originally  blue.  Below 
the  sarcophagi  on  either  side  is  the  usual  green  ground-strip.  The  Pit  of  Hell  is  black, 
and  the  gates  gold,  which  was  of  course  the  original  color  of  the  background. 

■*  Cf  Brockhaus,  op.  cit.  p.  132.  It  occurs  in  a  ninth  century  Psalter  of  the  Pantocrator 
monastery  on  Mt.  Athos  {ibid.  p.  198). 


46 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


XIV  Cent. 

Peribl. 

Peribl. 

V 

8 

0 

o 

H  H 

OO 

U-)  lO  M 

t- 

Trani 
Freer  Min. 

i8io 

i8io 
541 

Trani 
Monreale 
Freer  Min. 

Monreale 

Trani 

5 

i8io 
Freer  Min. 

Monreale 

541 

Monreale 
Trani 

1810 
Freer  Min. 

i 

o 

Par. 
Ivir. 
Harl. 

Par. 

IN  £  « 

-5=0 

cs  13 

Mel.  Ps. 

Ivir. 
Harl. 
Par. 

Pala  d'  Oro 
Mel.  Ps. 

Ivir. 
Harl.' 

Vat.  Urb.  2 

Par. 

Mel.  Ps. 
Pala  d'  Oro 
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8 

t 

0 
tn 
o 

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to 

Daphni 
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St.  Mark 

Daphni 
St.  Mark 

Daphni 
St.  Mark 

75 

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anli 

anli  Add. 
Ivir.  I 

enam. 

Par. 
St.  Luke 
St.  Sophia  at 
Kiev  (mosaic) 

Add. 

enam. 

St.  Luke 

Par. 

anli 

Add. 

Ivir.  I 

Par. 

St.  Luke 

enam. 

Peters- 
21 

enam. 

Par. 

X  Cent. 

Chek.  enam. 

Sogh 

Sogh 

Siena 
Par.  Ps.  20 

Chek. 
enam. 

Siena 

Sogh 
Par.  Ps.  2o 

Chek.  enam. 
Ms.  Athens, 
213 

Siena 

Ms.  St. 
burg, 

Siena 

IX  Cent. 

S.  Mar.  Ant. 

Chlud.  Ps. 

S.  Mar. 
Ant. 

S.  Mar.  Ant. 
Pantokrator, 
6i 

VIII  Cent. 

Chap. 
John  VII 

Chap. 
John  \'II? 

VI  Cent. 

Cibor. 

0 

3 

Cibor. 
(bust  of  S  tan! 
added) 

Motif 

CHRIST 

moves  toward  Adam 

surrounded  by  glory 

takes   Adam   by    hand,  but 
moves  in  opposite  direction 

holds  roll 

noias  garment 

holds  cross 

tramples  Hades 

tramples  ^^atan  and  gates 

tramples  gates  only 

white 

0 

chained 

CjATes  crossed 

GOSPEL  MINIATURES 


47 


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48 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


which  gave  the  Descent  into  Hell  its  place  in  the  Creed  also 
made  it  the  symbol  of  Christ's  Resurrection  in  its  fullest  mean- 
ing, as  insuring  the  deliverance  of  the  Just  from  spiritual  death, 
not  only  after,  but  before  the  Incarnation.  Thus  the  conception 
of  Christ  trampling  the  gates  of  Hell,  and  raising  up  the  Just  that 
had  gone  before  in  the  persons  of  Adam  and  Eve  and  the  Kings 
of  Israel,  became  the  customary  typological  rendering  of  the 
Risen  Lord,  the  pictorial  embodiment  of  Easter.  Hence  the 
label  which  the  scene  bears  in  Byzantine  art,  -f)  dvd(TTacn<;, 
'the  Resurrection.' 

The  Descent  into  Hell  is  described  in  the  apocryphal  Gospel 
of  Nicodemus.^  According  to  this  story,  the  Baptist  went  first 
into  Hell  to  announce  the  coming  of  Christ.  Suddenly  there 
was  a  cry  "  Lift  up  your  gates,  ye  princes ;  and  be  ye  lifted  up, 
ye  everlasting  gates ;  and  the  King  of  Glory  shall  come  in."  - 
Then  Christ  burst  asunder  the  gates  of  Hell,  bound  Satan,  and 
trampled  him  under  foot.  "  Father  Adam,"  falling  at  the  feet  of 
Christ,  was  raised  erect,  and  Mother  Eve  in  like  manner,  and 
Christ  set  His  Cross  "as  a  sign  of  victory"  in  the  midst  of 
Hades. 

The  motif  of  Christ's  entry  presented  certain  essential  elements 
for  the  pictorial  representation — Christ  trampling  on  Satan,  the 
broken  gates  of  Hell,  the  raising  of  Adam  and  Eve,  the  Cross  — 
to  which  the  artists  gradually  added  elements  drawn  from  other 
parts  of  the  story,  like  John  the  Baptist,  David  and  Solomon,  and 
others  of  the  Just,  and  the  tombs  from  which  the  dead  are  resur- 
rected. The  genesis  and  evolution  of  the  scene  in  Byzantine  art 
will  be  better  understood  with  the  help  of  the  accompanying 
iconographical  table  ^  (Fig-  22). 

The  monuments  cited  in  the  table  by  no  means  comprise  all 
those  representing  the  theme,  but  are  a  typical  list.  There  follow 
the  works  in  which  the  most  important  are  described  or  repro- 
duced, arranged  in  the  order  of  the  dates  of  the  monuments. 

^  Tischendorf,  E7'a?igelta  Apocrypha,  p.  389  fF. 

^  Ps.  xxiv,  7.  The  phraseology  of  Psalms  is  apparent  throughout  the  recital,  which 
doubtless  accounts  for  the  prominence  of  David  in  the  artistic  representations,  in  spite  of 
the  minor  role  that  he  plays  in  the  text ;  this  explains  also  the  frequent  use  of  the  scene  in 
the  illustrated  Psalters  (cf.  Millet,  Mon.  et  Mem.  Fond.  Piot.  1895,  p.  209). 

*  For  discussions  of  the  iconography  of  the  Descent  into  Hell,  see  Millet,  Mon.  et  Mtm. 
Fond.  Piot.,  1895,  pp.  204-214;  Diehl,  Mosa'iques  bysatitins  de  Saint-Luc,  ibid.  1896,  pp. 
232-236  ;  Rushforth,  Papers  of  the  British  School  at  Rome,  I,  pp.  1 14-1 19. 


Plate  VU 


Tin;  Descent  into  Heij. 


Tm;  Doi  BTiNci  or  Thomas 


GOSPEL  MINIATURES 


49 


Century 

Monument 

Described  or  Reproduced  by 

Abbrev. 

VI 

Ciborium  columns  of  St. 
Mark's.  Venice. 

Venturi,  Storia  deWarte  italiana, 
I,  fig.  266. 

Cibor. 

VIII 

Mosaic  of  Chapel  of  John 
VII.  Old  St.  Peters. 

Garrucci,  Storia  dcirarte  crist. 
IV.  pi.  280.  8. 

Chap.  John 
VII 

IX 

Fresco.  S.  Maria  Antiqua. 
Rome. 

Mt.  Atho.s.  Ms.  Pantokra- 

tor.  6i. 
Chludoff  Psalter. 

Rushforth.  op.  cit.  p.  116,  fig.  9. 

Fig-  23- 
Brockhaus.  op.  cit.  p.  177. 

Kondakoff,  Miniatures  of  a  Greek 
Psalter  in  Chludoff  Coll.  (Rus- 
sian), pi.  X,  3. 

S.  Mar.  Ant. 

Pantukra- 

tor,  61 
Chlud.  Ps. 

X 

Psalter,  Paris,  Bibl.  Nat. 
gr.  20. 

Chekmukmedi  enamel. 

Bordier,  op.  cit.  p.  98. 

Kondakoff,  Les  emaiix  byzaHtins, 
fig-  43- 

Par.  Ps.  20 
Chek.  enam. 

X  or  XI 

Fresco,     Soghanli.  Asia 
Minor. 

Enamelled     book  cover, 
Siena  (Biblioteca). 

Diehl,  Manuel,  p.  538.  fig.  260. 

Labarte,  Hist,  des  Arts  /ndustr. 
Album.  II,  pi.  CI. 

Soghanli 
Siena  enam. 

XI 

Mosaic,  St.  Luke  in  Phocis. 

Mt.  Athos,  Ms.  Iviron  i. 
Mosaic,  St.  Mark's,  Venice. 
Brit.  Mus.  Ms.  Add.  19352. 
Gospel.  Paris.  Bibl.  Nat. 
gr-  75- 

Mosaic.      Monastery  of 

Daphni. 
Mosaic,  Cath.  of  Torcello. 

Diehl,  Mon.  et  Mem.  Fond.  Plot. 

tXo^S  nl  WTV 
Brockhaus,  op.  cit.  p.  225. 
Fig.  25. 

Rushforth,  op.  cit.  p.  117,  fig.  10. 
Bordier,  op.  cit.  p.  137. 

Millet,  Le  Monastere  de  Daphni, 

pi.  XXV.    Fig.  24. 
Dalton,  Byz.  Art.  Archaeology. 

fig.  427. 

St.  Luke 

Ivir.  I 
St.  Mark 
Add.  19352 
Par.  75 

Daphni 

Torcello 

c.  uoo 

Pala  d'  Oro  (High  Altar 
of  St.  Mark's.  Venice), 
enamel. 

Boito,  Tesoro  di  S.  Marco,  pi.  xv. 

Pala  d'  Oro 

XII 

Melissenda  Psalter,  Brit. 
Mus. 

Commentary  on  Gregory 
Naz.   Paris,  Bibl.  Nat. 

A/ft:   err    c  A  1 

Gospel  in  Brit.  Mus.  Ms. 
Harl.  1810. 

Monreale  Cathedral,  Mo- 
saic. 

Mt.  Athos,  Tetraevangelon, 

Iviron  5. 
Bronze    Doors    of  Trani 

and  Ravello  Cathedrals, 

South  Italy. 

Herbert,     Illuminated  Manu- 
scripts, pi.  VI.    Fig.  27. 
Bordier,  op.  cit.  p.  185. 

Dalton,  op.  cit.  fig.  157. 

Gravina.  Duomo  di  Monreale,  pi. 
20  B. 

Brockhaus,  op.  cit.  p.  217. 

Schulz,  Denkmciler  der  Kunst  in 
Unteritalien,  pi.  xxiii. 

Mel.  Ps. 
Par.  541 

Harl.  181 
Monreale 
Ivir.  5 
Trani 

XIV 

Fresco,  Peribleptos 
church,  Mistra. 

Millet,  Mon.  byz.  de  Mistra.  pi. 
116,  3.    Fig.  26. 

Peribl. 

5o 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


The  most  obvious  aspect  of  the  evolution  of  the  type  is  the 
change  from  the  one-sided  composition  of  S.  Maria  Antiqua 
(Fig.  23),  depicting  the  Raising  of  Adam  and  Eve,  to  the  sym- 
metrical one,  wherein  others  partake  of  the  Resurrection  and  the 
figure  of  Christ  is  flanked  on  either  side  by  groups  of  personages 
representing  the  Just,  revived  and  delivered  from  Hell  by  the 
power  of  the  Cross.  The  change  presents  itself  timidly  in  the 
Chekmukmedi  enamel,  where  David  and  Solomon  are  represented 
rising  from  a  sarcophagus  in  the  upper  left-hand  corner  of  the 

scene,  opposite  the  figures  of 
Adam  and  Eve.  The  compo- 
sition becomes  rigidly  symmet- 
rical in  Iviron  5,  where  Christ 
stands  between  two  throngs  of 
the  Just,  headed  respectively  by 
Adam  and  Eve,  but  the  more 
usual  rendering,  wherein  Christ 
raises  Adam  by  the  hand,  but 
moves  in  the  opposite  direction 
to  him,  toward  David  and  Solo- 
mon, is  already  present  in  the 
Siena  enamel  (loth-iith  cen- 
tury). Other  figures  are  added 
to  the  lateral  groups  in  the 
course  of  the  eleventh  century, 
but  this  period  is  transitional 
and  formative  in  the  history  of 
the  composition,  and  includes 
such  divergent  examples  as  the 
extremely  simple  mosaic  of  St.  Luke  in  Phocis,  the  elaborate  scene 
in  Torcello  cathedral,  and  the  exceptional  variant  of  Daphni  (Fig. 
24).  The  Hades  of  the  early  examples,  trampled  beneath  the  feet 
of  Christ,  becomes  Satan  enchained,  is  transformed  into  the  ortho- 
dox black  imp  of  Byzantine  art,  as  at  St.  Mark's  in  Venice  (Fig.  25), 
and  finally  disappears  in  the  twelfth  century.  The  gates  of  Hell, 
crossed  in  the  Siena  enamel,  are  not  always  so  represented  in  the 
eleventh  century  (St.  Luke,  Iviron  i,  Torcello),  and  only  become 
regularly  crossed  in  the  twelfth.  The  later  development  is  seen  in 
the  Peribleptos  church  at  Mistra,  where  Christ  is  enveloped  in  an 
elliptical  glory,  David  and  Solomon  are  accompanied  by  the  Baptist 


FIG.  23.  The  Descent  into  Hell.  Fresco 
IN  S.  Maria  Antiqua,  Rome. 

Christ  tramples  a  prostrate  figure  personifying 
Hades,  and  raises  Adam  from  the  tomb.  Behind 
Adam  stands  Eve. 


GOSPEL  MINIATURES 


and  a  number  of  other  figures,  and  Adam  and  Eve  appear  at  the 
head  of  a  throng  of  patriarchs  and  prophets  (Fig.  26).  Still  later  the 
church  frescoes  and  the  Painter's  Manual  add  the  fancy  of  angels  en- 
chaining devils,  names  for  the  minor  dramatis personae,  etc.  The 
treatment  of  the  scene  in  Russia  ranges  from  the  simplicity  of  the 


FIG.  24.    The  Descent  into  Hell.    Mosaic  in  the  Monastery  ok 
Daphni  near  Athens. 


twelfth  century  scheme  to  an  elaborate  panorama  of  Hell  of  the  kind 
seen  in  an  ikon  in  the  Likhatcheff  collection  at  St.  Petersburg.' 

Our  miniature,  by  virtue  of  its  symmetrical  composition,  the 
omission  of  Satan,  and  the  crossed  gates,  finds  its  closest  parallels 
in  the  twelfth  century,  and  particularly  in  the  Melissenda  Psalter 
(Fig.  27).    Christ  raises  the  kneeling  Adam  from  his  sarcophagus 

1  Likhatcheff,  op.  cit.  pi.  286.    Cf.  also  pi.  265. 


52 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


FK;.  25.     Mosaic  ix  Sr.  M.\kk's.  \  k. 
Above,  the  Descent  into  Hell;  below,  Christ  and  the  Holy  Women  and  the  Doubting  of  Thomas. 

tomb,  and  strides  across  the  gates  of  Hell.  Eve  stands  beside 
Adam,  and  to  the  right  we  can  discern  the  figures  of  David  and 
Solomon.  Behind  them  we  may  perhaps  supply  the  figure  of 
John  the  Baptist,  who  is  regularly  present  from  the  beginning  of 
the  eleventh  century.  The  iconography  of  the  picture  thus  dates 
it  in  the  twelfth  century,  or  later. 


FIG.  26.  The  Dksc  kxt  INTO  Hell.  Fresco 
IN  THE  Peribleptos  Church  at  Mistra. 


FIG.  27.    The  Descent  into  Hell.    Miniature  ok  the 
Melissenda  Psalter  in  the  British  Museum. 


54 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


V.  The  Doubting  of  Thomas  —  Plate  VIII 

The  verso  of  Folio  III  is  occupied  by  a  miniature  represent- 
ing the  Doubting  of  Thomas,  the  second  illustration  of  the 
Gospel  of  John.  The  ground  strip  is  green,  and  the  field  of 
the  miniature,  as  well  as  the  doors  behind  Christ,  was  originally 
gold.  Traces  of  the  same  color  remain  upon  the  reddish  brown 
priming  of  the  tunic  worn  by  Christ,  over  which  is  draped  a  blue 
pallium.  The  disciples  wear  blue  and  violet  tunics  and  pallia, 
with  an  alternating  distribution  of  the  colors.  Above  the  doors, 
against  which  is  outlined  the  figure  of  Christ,  and  the  slanting  roof 
to  the  right,  is  the  remnant  of  an  inscription  in  red  letters.  One 
would  expect  this  to  be  the  phrase  which  regularly  labels  the 
scene  in  Byzantine  art:  TUJN  0YPUJN  KeKAeiCMGNUUN,  'the  doors 
being  shut,'  with  which  words  John  (xx.  19)  emphasizes  the  sud- 
den and  miraculous  appearance  of  the  resurrected  Christ  among 
the  disciples.  The  two  letters  which  remain,  however,  seem  to  be 
ON,  thus  forming  no  part  of  the  phrase  unless  we  suppose  a  blun- 
der on  the  part  of  the  artist.  The  disciples  are  grouped  in  the 
spaces  under  the  sloping  roofs  to  right  and  left,  Peter  heading  the 
group  to  the  right,  while  Thomas  on  the  other  side  steps  forward 
and  places  his  finger  on  the  wound  which  the  Saviour  has  uncov- 
ered by  raising  His  right  arm. 

The  incident,  recorded  only  by  John,  is  not  common  in  Byzan- 
tine art,  and  is  exceedingly  rare  in  the  illustration  of  the  Gospels. 
It  occurs  perhaps  in  a  fifth  century  fragment  of  a  sarcophagus  in 
the  museum  of  Ravenna,  on  which  we  see  a  youthful  unbearded 
Christ,  half  turned  to  the  left,  raising  His  right  arm,  while  the 
disciple  standing  beside  Him  faces  outward  and  extends  his  right 
hand  toward  Christ's  left  side.^  A  more  positive  rendering  of  the 
incident  occurs  on  a  sarcophagus  of  S.  Celso  in  Milan,'*  dating 
about  400,  on  which  we  see  Christ  baring  His  right  side  with  up- 
raised arm,  and  Thomas  stepping  forward  from  the  left  to  touch 
the  wound.  He  is  accompanied  by  only  one  of  the  other  disci- 
ples. The  "  Thomas  scenes  "  which  have  been  pointed  out  in  a 
mosaic  of  S.  Apollinare  Nuovo  at  Ravenna  (sixth  century),  on  an 
ivory  of  the  British  Museum,  and  in  a  miniature  of  a  Munich 

^  S.  Muratori,  N.  Bull,     Archeologia  crist.  191 1,  pp.  34-58. 
-  Garrucci,  op.  cit.  V,  pi.  315,  5. 


gospp:l  miniatures 


55 


manuscript  of  the  ninth  century,  are  too  uncertain  in  character  to 
be  cited  as  indications  of  the  evolution  of  the  type.' 

The  earliest  example  of  the  scene  on  record  in  which  all 
twelve  of  the  disciples  were  represented  was  a  mosaic  in  Justin- 
ian's church  of  the  Apostles  in  Constantinople.'^  The  church 
was  destroyed  by  the  Turks  in  the  fifteenth  century,  but  the 
description  of  Mesarites  gives  us  a  vivid  idea  of  its  splendid  deco- 
ration as  it  appeared  in  the  twelfth  century.  According  to  this 
account,  the  mosaic  represented  Christ  and  His  disciples  in  a 
house  with  closed  doors.  Christ,  in  the  centre  of  the  group,  bared 
His  side,  and  Thomas,  ashamed  and  hesitating,  but  urged  forward 
by  his  companions,  touched  the  wound.  The  Saviour  seemed  to 
shrink,  the  Byzantine  writer  tells  us,  from  the  touch  of  His  disci- 
ple. A  picture  of  the  same  general  character  is  found  on  one  of 
the  reliefs  of  the  Monza  phials,  which  date  about  600,'^  and  in  a 
fragmentaiy  fresco  of  S.  Maria  Antiqua^  of  the  eighth  century.  A 
rather  original  rendering  of  this  type  of  composition  is  to  be  seen 
in  a  manuscript  of  the  Bibliotheque  de  I'Arsenal  at  Paris,''  of  the 
eleventh  century.  Here  Christ  stands  to  the  right  of  the  picture 
and  raises  His  right  arm,  but  seems  to  shrink  from  the  insistent 
finger  of  Thomas,  who  approaches  from  the  left.  A  group  of 
three  disciples  stands  behind  him.  No  background  is  given.  By 
the  end  of  the  eleventh  century  the  scene  had  reached  the  form 
thereafter  accepted,  as  we  see  it  in  the  mosaics  of  St.  Mark's  at 
Venice  (Fig.  25),  and  on  the  bronze  doors  of  St.  Paul's  at  Rome.^ 
The  tendency  toward  symmetry,  the  most  constant  factor  in 
Byzantine  art,  arranged  the  disciples  in  groups  on  either  side  of 
Christ,  who  always  stands  on  a  flight  of  steps,  in  front  of  the 
"closed  doors."  The  figure  of  the  Saviour  shrinks  no  more  from 
the  hand  of  Thomas,  but  stands  erect  and  immobile,  with  the 
statuesque  dignity  that  makes  the  subject  so  impressive  in  all  its 
subsequent  renderings.  St.  Thomas  approaches  from  the  left  and 
touches  the  wound  in  Christ's  right  side.    The  same  composition, 

1  Cf.  Heisenberg,  Grabeskirche  laid  Apostelkirche.  II,  p.  264.  note  4. 
'■^  Heisenberg.  op.  cit.  II,  p.  264. 

^  Garrucci,  op.  cit.  VI,  pi.  434,  6.   A  similar  representation  is  found  on  a  lead  ampulla  in 
the  British  Museum  {Daltoii,  Byz.  Art  cS^"  Archaeology,  fig.  399). 
■*  Griineisen,  Ste.  Marie  Antique.,  fig.  118. 
^  No.  33  c  Rohault  de  Fleury,  VEvaiigile,  pi.  xcvii,  3. 

^  Rohault  de  Fleury.  op.  cit.  pi.  xcvil,  i.  Also  in  mosaics  of  St.  Luke  in  Phocis, 
Daphni,  and  St.  Sophia  at  Kiev. 


56 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


with  unimportant  variations  of  background,  is  used  throughout 
the  twelfth  century  (Melissenda  Psalter,  mosaic  in  the  Church  of 
the  Nativity  at  Bethlehem,  Monreale),  and  continues  in  late 
Byzantine  painting,  appearing  with  the  usual  late  Byzantine  addi- 
tion of  architectural  detail,  in  the  fourteenth  century  frescoes  of 
the  Peribleptos  church  at  Mistra,^  in  Duccio's  altar-piece  at  Siena, 
and  in  the  Painter's  Manual.  Our  miniature,  therefore,  conforms 
to  the  iconography  of  the  scene  as  established  in  the  eleventh 
century,  and  traditional  after  that  period. 

vi.  Christ  and  the  Holy  Women  —  Plate  IX 

Folio  IV  recto  is  adorned  with  a  miniature  whose  ruined 
condition  makes  it  difficult  of  interpretation  until  we  compare  a 
better  preserved  example  of  the  same  scene  in  a  gospel  of  Mt. 
Athos^  (Iviron  5,  Fig.  28).  In  this  manuscript  the  miniature 
occupies  a  place  at  the  beginning  of  the  twenty-eighth  chap- 
ter of  Matthew,  and  illustrates  the  meeting  of  "  Mary  Magdalen 
and  the  other  Mary "  with  Jesus,  having  particular  reference  to 
the  words:  "And  they  came  and  held  him  by  the  feet  and  wor- 
shipped him."  The  episode  is  depicted  in  our  miniature  in  a 
fashion  practically  identical  with  that  of  the  Athos  manuscript, 
except  that  the  horizon  line  is  lower,  and  the  figure  of  Jesus  is 
larger  in  proportion  to  the  size  of  the  women.  The  Saviour's 
tunic  is  painted  in  with  a  yellow  wash,  originally  overlaid  with 
gold.  His  pallium  was  blue.  The  woman  kneeling  to  the  right 
wears  a  reddish  garment.  The  background  was  originally  gold. 
The  ground-strip  is  the  usual  green,  and  the  green  cones  to  right 
and  left  are  the  remains  of  trees  —  very  conventional  trees  — 
which  indicate  the  garden  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 

The  theme  is  not  common,  save  in  late  frescoes,^  and  its  earli- 
est appearance  is  on  an  ivory  in  the  treasury  of  Milan  cathedral, 
of  the  fifth  or  sixth  century,^  wherein  the  two  women  kneel  to 

1  Millet.  Mon.  bys.  de  Mistra,  pi.  121,  i.  Cf.  also  the  rendering  in  the  Chapel  of  St. 
John,  ibid.  pi.  106.  3. 

'  Brockhaus,  op.  cit.  p.  217  ff. 

*  On  Mt.  Athos  it  occurs  in  thefrescoes  of  the  Protaton  (circa  1300),  of  Kutlumusi  (1540), 
of  Dionysiu  (1547).  and  of  the  cloister  church  of  Lavra.  No  examples  at  Mistra  are 
recorded  by  Millet.  Another  example  in  manuscript  illumination  is  the  miniature  of  a 
Greek  gospel  in  the  Public  Library  at  St.  Petersburg  (Likhatcheff,  op.  cit.  pi.  353). 

^  Garrucci,  op.  cit.  VI,  pi.  450,  2. 


Pl.ATK  IX 


ClIKISI  AM) 


11 1 1; 


PiAii;  X 


GOSPEL  MINIATURES 


57 


the  left  of  Christ.  Between  them  and  the  standing  figure  of  the 
Saviour  rises  a  tree.  In  the  Rabulas  Gospel  (586)  the  garden  is 
indicated  by  trees  and  the  two  women  kneel  to  the  right  of  the 
risen  Lord.  A  lost  mosaic  of  the  Apostles'  church  seems  to  have 
resembled  our  miniature  at  least  in  the  one  respect  that  the  two 
women  bowed  their  heads  to  the  feet  of  Christ.^    In  the  Tri- 


FIG.  28.    Christ  and  the  Holy  Women.    Miniature  of  a  Gospel  in 
THE  IviRON  Monastery  on  Mt.  Athos  :  Iviron  5. 


vulzio  ivory,"  Christ  is  seated  on  a  rock  to  the  left  of  the  open 
tomb.  The  women  appear  to  the  right,  one  kneeling,  the  other 
half  erect,  stooping  forward  with  outstretched  hands.  The  ninth- 
century  manuscript  of  Gregory  Nazianzenus  in  the  Bibliotheque 
Nationale  indicates  the  garden  by  trees  and  again  depicts  the 
women  in  differing  attitudes,  one  prostrate  at  Christ's  feet,  the 


^  Heisenberg,  op.  cit.  II,  p.  259. 


Garrucci,  op.  cit.  VI,  pi.  449,  2. 


58 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


other  half  upright.^  This  distinction  is  maintained  for  a  time 
in  the  more  symmetrical  representations  of  the  later  period,  and 
the  evolution  of  the  composition  into  the  hieratic  type  of  the 
Freer  miniature  was  only  a  gradual  one.  Thus  in  the  mosaic  of 
St.  Mark's  at  Venice,  of  the  late  eleventh  century  (Fig.  25),  we 
find  a  composition  essentially  the  same  as  that  of  our  miniature 
and  of  Iviron  5,  but  lacking  the  schematic  symmetry  of  the  twelfth 
century.  The  garden  has  two  little  hillocks  and  several  trees,  and 
the  women  are  not  yet  prostrate  on  the  ground.  The  woman  to 
the  left  retains  a  posture  more  nearly  upright  than  that  of  the  fig- 
ure on  the  right.  The  St.  Mark's  version  occurs  again  in  a 
mosaic  of  Monreale,  of  the  latter  half  of  the  twelfth  century, 
wherein  the  earlier  and  freer  type  is  reflected,  but  the  garden  has 
already  dwindled  to  two  trees.  Iviron  5,  also  of  the  twelfth  cen- 
tury, shows  a  still  more  schematic  composition,  in  which  the  sym- 
metry is  complete  except  that  a  souvenir  of  the  earlier  position  of 
the  woman  on  the  left  remains  in  the  lifted  head.  Finally,  the 
Freer  miniature  represents  the  most  advanced  degree  of  formality, 
and  cannot  be  distant  in  date  from  the  Athos  manuscript,  so  close 
is  the  resemblance  of  the  two. 

vii.  Madonna  and  Saints — Plate  X 

The  verso  of  fol.  IV  contains  a  charming  figure  of  the  Ma- 
donna, standing  on  a  low  pedestal,  holding  the  Child  on  her  left 
arm,  and  flanked  by  two  bishop  saints  carrying  books,  whose 
identity,  in  view  of  the  condition  of  the  miniature,  it  would 
be  useless  to  attempt  to  determine.  The  Virgin  originally  wore 
a  violet  mantle  above  her  undergarment,  which  is  drawn  over  her 
head  in  a  veil.  The  bishops  on  either  side  also  had  violet  pallia, 
and  their  omophoria  or  stoles  show  traces  of  black  and  gold.  The 
background  was  once  the  usual  gold. 

The  Virgin  apparently  holds  the  Child  with  both  hands  and 
bends  her  head  to  His  in  a  graceful  attitude  of  motherly  solici- 
tude. The  human  quality  of  the  group  gives  our  Madonna  con- 
siderable importance  as  one,  at  least,  of  the  earliest  examples  of 
the   "  tender "  Virgin.     The   Byzantine   type "  throughout  the 

1  Omont,  Fac-si7iiilcs  des  ininiatiires  de  Mss.  grecs.  de  la  Dihl.  Nat.,  pi.  xxi. 
-  Exception  must  be  made  of  the  remarkable  sixth   century  Madonna  at  Kiev 
(Muiioz,  op.  cit.  fig.  5)  and  some  Coptic  examples. 


GOSPEL  MINIATURES 


59 


earlier  period,  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  frequently  even  in  later 
times,  was  a  thoroughly  hieratic  conception  of  the  Mother  and 
Child,  both  being  represented  in  frontal  attitude,  usually  gazing 
directly  at  the  spectator,  the  Virgin  holding  her  head  erect.  The 
humanizing  droop  of  the  head  was  introduced  into  Italian  art  by 
the  Tuscans  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  the  transformation  of 
the  type  in  Byzantine  art  is  usually  ascribed  to  the  same  period. 
As  our  manuscript  cannot  be  placed  later  than  1200,  its  Madonna 
possesses  an  historical  interest  quite  as  great  as  her  indubitable 
charm. 

viii.  John  the  Baptist  and  the  Virgin? 

Folio  V,  recto,  contains  the  remains  of  a  group  of  two  saints. 
There  is  so  little  left  of  the  painting  that  I  hesitate  to  identify 
the  figures,  but  it  seems  likely  that  they  represent  St.  John  the 
Baptist  and  the  Virgin.  The  irregular  outlines  of  the  garment 
worn  by  the  figure  on  the  left  indicate  the  mantle  of  skins  char- 
acteristic of  the  Baptist,  and  the  figure  to  the  right  is  dressed, 
so  far  as  one  can  determine,  like  a  woman.  But  conjecture  is 
futile  in  the  face  of  the  ruined  condition  of  the  painting.  There 
is  no  miniature  on  the  verso  page. 

ix.  Date  and  Value  of  the  Miniatures 

The  date  of  this  series  of  miniatures  has  so  frequently  been 
suggested  during  the  course  of  the  preceding  discussion  that  it 
needs  few  words  of  further  definition.  The  text  points  to  the  thir- 
teenth century,  but  is  not  inconsistent  with  the  second  half  of  the 
twelfth,  and  the  style  and  iconography  clearly  indicate  the  period 
last  named  as  the  time  when  the  manuscript  was  illustrated.  An 
earlier  date  would  probably  be  inconsistent  with  the  use  of  the 
Evangelistic  symbols,  and  certainly  with  the  text.  The  introduc- 
tion of  scenes  unusual  in  Gospel  illustration,  like  the  Appearance 
to  the  Holy  Women  and  the  Doubting  of  Thomas,  also  points  to 
a  date  subsequent  to  the  earlier  half  of  the  twelfth  century.  An- 
other indication  of  the  same  character  is  the  curious  combination 
of  realism  and  convention  which  is  often  met  with  in  later  Byzan- 
tine art,  and  is  here  observable  on  the  one  hand  in  the  pedestal 
on  which  the  Madonna  stands,  and  on  the  other  in  the  motherly 
droop  of  her  head. 


6o 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


The  thirteenth  century  is  an  impossible  date,  for  reasons  quite 
as  good.  In  the  first  place,  manuscripts  so  profusely  illustrated 
are  rare  in  that  period.  Again,  in  the  scenes  of  the  Descent  into 
Hell  and  the  Doubting  of  Thomas,  we  have  found  our  best  par- 
allels in  monuments  close  to  the  year  iioo,  like  the  bronze  doors 
of  St.  Paul's  and  Trani,  the  mosaics  of  St.  Mark's  and  the  Melis- 
senda  Psalter.  Iviron  5,  the  manuscript  which  is  so  like  ours  in  the 
rendering  of  the  Appearance  to  the  Holy  Women,  is  dated  by 
Brockhaus  "about  the  twelfth  century."  Lastly  we  have  the 
definite  evidence  of  the  iconography  of  the  Descent  from  the 
Cross  in  favor  of  the  latter  half  of  the  twelfth  century,  for  the  well- 
defined  type  of  the  thirteenth  century  requires  that  both  arms  of 
the  Saviour  be  detached  from  the  cross,  and  Nicodemus  employed 
in  removing  the  nails  from  His  feet.  The  Freer  miniature  main- 
tains the  earlier  form  in  which  one  hand  is  still  nailed  to  the  cross- 
bar, but  shows  a  later  phase  of  the  theme  by  omitting  the  angels 
which  appear  above  the  cross  in  the  Melissenda  Psalter.  The 
period  between  11 50  and  1200  is  therefore  the  time  when  our 
miniatures  were  produced. 

The  compositions  are  quite  consistent  with  this  date.  Between 
the  creative  Neo-Hellenic  art  of  the  ninth,  tenth  and  eleventh  cen- 
turies and  the  diffuse  realism  of  the  fourteenth,  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  centuries  intervene  as  an  epoch  of  simplification  and 
fixation  of  types.  The  iconography  often  shows  this,  and  we  have 
seen  how  the  twelfth  century  stereotyped  the  Descent  into  Hell, 
crossing  the  gates  of  Hell  and  omitting  the  figure  of  Satan.  The 
episodes  of  the  Melissenda  Psalter  reflect  the  same  tendency  toward 
abbreviation  and  convention,  and  it  is  precisely  on  this  account 
that  the  Psalter  and  the  Freer  miniatures  seem  so  closely  related. 

The  latter  have  not  escaped  the  conventionality  of  their  time. 
The  pedestal  under  the  Virgin's  feet  in  the  Descent  from  the 
Cross  and  the  "  Madonna  with  Saints,"  and  the  hieratic  rendering 
of  the  Appearance  to  the  Holy  Women,  so  marked  in  its  dry  con- 
trast to  the  example  of  St.  Mark's,  are  witness  to  an  indifferent 
grasp  of  reality  on  the  part  of  our  artist.  All  the  episodes  are  re- 
duced to  their  lowest  terms.  The  lanky  figures,  the  uninventive 
drapery,  with  its  broad,  straight  surfaces  or  minute  and  numerous 
folds,  the  feet  which  rest  on  nothing,  the  awkward  attitudes,  are 
indeed  features  which  already  are  present  in  Byzantine  painting 
of  the  eleventh  century,  but  here  appear  in  sharper  relief.  And 


GOSPEL  MINIATURES 


6i 


still  there  is  in  the  very  human  rendering  of  the  Madonna  a  pre- 
monition of  the  mundane  style  of  the  fourteenth  century. 

As  a  draughtsman  our  artist  shows  himself  uneven,  and  like 
most  East  Christian  painters,  he  relied  on  the  usual  thick  over- 
painting  to  conceal  his  blunders.  Thus  he  took  two  tries  at  the 
left  foot  of  Joseph  of  Arimathea,  and  nodded  decidedly  in  his 
drawing  of  Adam's  left  leg.  His  innocence  of  anatomy  is  ap- 
parent in  the  Christ  of  the  Descent  from  the  Cross,  where  he 
draws  impossible  knee-caps  and  repeats  the  summary  rendering 
of  the  muscles  of  the  breast  and  arm  which  was  used  in  the  mo- 
saic Crucifixion  of  Daphni,  a  hundred  years  before.  The  at- 
tempt at  the  expression  of  sorrow  on  the  face  of  Mary  in  the 
same  scene  has  resulted  in  an  unconvincing  grimace. 

Herein,  however,  he  shows  himself  but  the  child  of  his  time, 
and  a  comparison  with  the  Melissenda  Psalter  and  Iviron  5  will 
make  it  clear  that  he  was  above  rather  than  below  the  average  of 
the  twelfth  century.  It  must  be  remembered  that  Byzantine 
drawing,  with  its  sweeping  and  confident  lines  produced  by  the 
practice  of  hundreds  of  years  on  unchanging  compositions,  is  usually 
bolder  in  its  preliminary  stage  than  in  the  finished  picture,  after 
the  application  of  the  overcolor,  since  the  latter  conceals  much  of 
the  detail  of  the  design,  and  deprives  the  preliminary  sketch  of 
freshness  and  vivacity  by  rigid  adherence  to  clean-cut  contours. 
Consequently,  it  is  somewhat  unfair  to  compare  our  artist's  best 
sketches,  where  the  loss  of  the  overpainting  has  revealed  them, 
with  the  finished  miniatures  of  the  Melissenda  Psalter.  Yet  there 
can  be  no  doubt  that  the  spirited  figure  of  Nicodemus  in  the  De- 
scent from  the  Cross  is  in  every  way  superior  to  that  of  the  Psalter, 
and  it  is  impossible  to  find  in  the  twelfth  century  another  Virgin 
so  appealing  as  that  which  appears  in  the  miniature  of  the  Ma- 
donna and  the  Bishop-Saints.  The  artist  and  his  manuscript 
were  among  the  best  of  their  time.  The  unusual  scenes  included 
in  the  surviving  series  betoken  a  large  number  in  the  original 
manuscript.  Apparently  the  artist  eschewed  ornamental  borders, 
but  for  richness  and  variety  of  illustration  the  gospel  in  its  pris- 
tine state  must  have  equalled,  if  it  did  not  outrank,  the  existing 
Byzantine  manuscripts  of  the  twelfth  century. 

The  disappearance  of  the  overpainting  makes  our  miniatures 
of  unique  assistance  in  determining  the  processes  of  Byzantine 
painting,  and  the  technique  of  our  artist  is  not  hard  to  follow. 


62 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


He  drew  his  preliminary  sketch  on  the  parchment  in  an  ink  that 
has  faded  brown,  using  a  pen  or  fine  brush.  After  this  a  yellow 
priming  or  sizing  was  laid  on  to  form  a  ground  for  the  gold  wher- 
ever this  was  to  be  used  —  in  the  background,  on  the  foot-stools 
of  the  Evangelists  or  the  Gates  of  Hell,  or  in  the  draperies  of 
Christ,  who  always  wears  a  blue  pallium  and  a  gilded  tunic  except 
in  the  Descent  from  the  Cross,  where  He  wears  a  loin-cloth  of  inde- 
terminate color,  and  in  the  Descent  into  Hell,  where  both  tunic  and 
pallium  show  traces  of  gilding.  The  green  ground-strip  (gray-blue 
in  the  portrait  of  John)  was  probably  the  next  thing  to  be  painted 
in.  Details  in  black  were  often  added  on  the  yellow  sizing  before 
the  gold  was  applied,  but  the  inscriptions  seem  to  have  been  painted 
in  minium  on  the  gold  itself.  The  latter  has  almost  entirely  dis- 
appeared, leaving  the  yellow  sizing  to  indicate  the  portions  of  the 
miniatures  that  were  originally  gilded.  After  these  preliminary 
steps  the  final  color  was  laid  on  within  the  outlines  of  the  sketch 
directly  on  the  parchment.  Shadows  were  obtained  by  deeper 
applications  of  the  tone  the  artist  happened  to  be  using,  along  the 
lines  of  the  preliminary  drawing.  The  flesh  color  was  a  reddish 
yellow  of  much  the  same  cjuality  as  the  priming  spoken  of  above. 
Hair  and  features  were  drawn  in  ink,  and  possibly  afterwards  re- 
inforced with  black.  The  final  task  of  the  artist  was  to  correct 
and  deepen  with  black  the  main  contours,  and  to  add  such  minor 
touches  as  the  decorative  details  in  gold  and  black,  and  the  black 
with  which  he  picked  out  the  folds  of  Christ's  gilded  garments. 


III.  THE  PAINTED  COVERS   OF  THE  WASHING- 
TON MANUSCRIPT  OF  THE  GOSPELS 

A  DESCRIPTION  of  these  interesting  panels,  together  with  a 
brief  and  tentative  discussion  of  their  date,  was  pubHshed  by  the 
present  writer  in  the  Introduction  to  the  Facsimile  of  the  Wash- 
ington Manuscript.^  In  describing  them  here,  therefore,  it  will 
be  necessary  only  to  summarize  the  account  previously  published, 
and  to  refer  the  reader,  for  details  of  color,  to  the  two  plates  in 
the  Facsimile  which  exactly  reproduce  the  paintings. 

The  covers  of  the  Washington  Manuscript  (Plate  XI),  which 
are  now  separated  from  the  text,  are  two  wooden  panels,  bevelled 
on  the  outer  and  the  inner  faces  at  top  and  bottom,  and  also  on  the 
sides  in  the  case  of  the  outer  faces.  The  left-hand  board,  which  is 
badly  worn  (Plate  XII),  varies  in  width  from  14  cm.  to  14.3  cm., 
and  in  length  from  21  cm.  to  21.3  cm.  The  right-hand  board 
(Plate  XIII)  measures  14.3  cm.  x  21.3  cm.  The  thickness  of  the 
covers  varies  from  i  cm.  to  1.6  cm. 

The  back  binding  consists  of  a  leather  backing  applied  over 
interlacing  cords  of  the  same  material.  The  ends  of  these  cords 
were  inserted  in  twenty-six  holes  in  the  side  of  each  cover,  and 
fragments  of  the  cords  still  remain  in  place.  Their  protruding 
ends  were  bound  by  a  strip  of  cloth,  about  2.5  cm.  wide,  pasted 
along  the  inner  face  of  each  board.  Over  this  is  pasted  a  parch- 
ment backing,  covering  the  whole  inner  face. 

Along  the  upper  part  of  the  right-hand  edge  of  the  left  panel 
is  a  row  of  seven  holes,  and  another  row  of  the  same  number  of 
holes  runs  along  the  lower  part,  leaving  a  space  of  about  7.5  cm. 
between  the  two  rows.  On  the  upper  edge  of  the  same  cover 
is  a  row  of  ten  holes.  The  other  cover  has  no  such  holes  in  its 
edges,  except  one  in  the  upper  outer  corner,  corresponding  to  a 
hole  similarly  placed  in  the  left  cover.  A  fragment  of  a  wooden 
peg,  still  remaining  in  the  corner  hole  of  the  latter,  shows  that 

1  Facsiinile  of  the  Washington  Manuscript  of  the  Four  Gospels  in  the  Freer  Collection. 
With  an  Introduction  by  Henry  A.  Sanders.     The  University  of  Michigan.  1913.    See  p.  83. 

63 


64 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


cords  were  once  inserted  in  these  holes,  probably  to  tie  the  covers 
together  when  the  book  was  not  in  use.  The  rows  of  holes  in 
the  left  cover,  not  being  repeated  in  the  other  panel,  seem  to  have 
been  used  for  the  attachment  of  flaps  with  which  to  lift  the  left- 
hand  cover,  or  of  a  casing  of  cloth  which  was  folded  about  the 
book. 

The  metal  chains  attached  by  staples  to  the  upper  outer  cor- 
ners of  the  covers  ^  were  probably  meant  to  keep  the  book  from 
opening  to  its  full  extent,  so  as  to  prevent  abrasion  of  the  paint- 
ings.   They  are  undoubtedly  later  additions  to  the  book. 

The  covers  were  painted  after  the  book  was  bound  ;  for  irregu- 
lar traces  of  the  yellow  paint  used  in  the  border  remain  around 
the  holes  of  the  back  binding  and  on  the  fragments  of  the  leather 
cords,  and,  while  the  same  color  has  invaded  the  space  between 
the  holes  into  which  the  binding  cords  are  inserted,  it  stops 
short  at  the  line  of  the  binding  itself. 

The  figures  on  the  covers  are  the  four  Evangelists,  depicted 
in  the  order  in  which  their  gospels  appear  in  the  manuscript,^ 
Matthew  and  John  on  the  left  cover,  Luke  and  Mark  on  the  right. 
John's  figure  is  almost  entirely  erased.  Mark  is  labelled  by  an 
inscription  placed  vertically  to  the  right  of  his  figure:  MAPKOCi 
and  to  the  left  of  Luke  may  be  seen  the  last  two  letters  of  his 
name:  AC. 

The  painter  used  no  priming  and  has  left  no  traces  of  his 
preliminary  outline.  The  green  filling  of  the  background  was 
put  in  after  the  figures  were  drawn ;  the  brush-strokes  are  guided 
by  the  contours  of  the  figures.  The  strokes  are  crude  and  irregu- 
lar, indicating  a  rough  reed  brush  of  the  kind  described  by  Gayet 
in  his  description  of  the  processes  of  Coptic  painting.^  The 
figures  are  painted  in  masses  of  ground  color,  and  all  the  details 
of  features,  drapery,  etc.,  including  the  hair  and  the  black  outlines 
of  the  figures,  are  overlaid  upon  this.  The  painting  originally 
covered  the  entire  panel,  with  a  yellow  border  running  around  the 
edges,  overlaid  with  a  crude  leaf  design  in  green  and  greenish 
brown.  The  yellow  was  the  poorest  color  in  the  painter's  palette, 
and  has  peeled  badly,  particularly  on  the  edges  of  the  panels. 

1  The  one  attached  to  the  left  panel  measures  15.3  cm.  ;  the  other  17.7  cm. 
'■^  Cf.  Sanders,  The  Washington  Manuscript  of  the  Four  Gospels  (University  of  Michi- 
gan Studies,  Humanistic  Series,  Vol.  9,  Part  i),  p.  27. 
3  VArt  Copte,  p.  263. 


COVERS  OF  WASHINGTON  MANUSCRIPT 


65 


Here  it  disappeared  early  and  left  a  strip  of  bare  wood  which 
has  weathered  more  than  the  rest  of  the  panel,  and  thus  gives  the 
appearance  of  a  border,  especially  on  the  left  cover.  The  fugitive 
character  of  Coptic  yellow  was  noticed  by  J.  E  Quibell  in  his 
examination  of  the  frescoes  at  Saqqara.'  The  detail  colors  are 
all  very  thickly  laid  on,  and  the  same  is  true  in  less  degree  of 
the  ground  color.  Heavy  painting  has  caused  the  green  back- 
ground to  shade  almost  to  black  in  places,  especially  in  the  centre 
of  each  panel,  where  the  brush-strokes  up  and  down  have  mingled 
in  a  thick  layer  of  paint. 

The  artist  used  a  limited  palette, — black,  red,  yellow,  slate- 
blue,  white  and  green.  To  Matthew  and  Luke  he  gives  black 
hair,  and  clothes  them  in  a  white  tunic,  on  which  the  shadows  are 
brought  out  in  blue,  and  a  pinkish  pallium,  whose  folds  are  pro- 
duced in  red.  Both  garments  are  outlined  in  black,  and  the 
tunic  of  Luke  has  black  stripes  and  dots.  Both  Evangelists 
carry  a  yellow  book,  with  details  and  edges  in  black,  and  jewels 
indicated  with  red.  The  color-scheme,  drapery  and  attitude  of 
the  ruined  figure  of  John  must  have  been,  as  the  remaining  frag- 
ments show,  practically  identical  with  that  of  Mark:  gray  hair, 
white  tunic  with  black  stripes  and  dots,  and  shadows  indicated  in 
black  and  slate-blue ;  red  pallium  with  white  folds  ;  yellow  book 
with  red  jewels,  and  black  dots  and  edges.  Both  tunic  and 
pallium  were  outlined  with  heavy  black  contours,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  other  Evangelists.  Huge  yellow  haloes,  originally  outlined 
in  white,  adorn  the  heads  of  all  four  figures.  The  flesh-color  is 
white,  shaded  with  pink.  Eyes,  ears,  mouth  and  nose  are  drawn 
in  red,  and  the  nostrils  of  Matthew  and  Mark  are  indicated  by 
touches  of  black.  The  hand  of  Mark  is  outlined  in  black,  with  a 
trace  of  a  red  line  along  the  wrist.  The  feet  of  the  four  saints  are 
clad  in  sandals,  summarily  indicated  by  thickening  the  black  con- 
tour of  the  pinkish  white  feet  at  the  heel  and  toe. 

The  artist  shows  a  tendency  to  mix  his  lights  with  the  colors 
used  in  the  shadows.  Thus  the  flesh  color  of  the  faces  is  made 
pinkish  by  the  admixture  of  the  red  details  of  the  eyes  and  ears, 
and  the  pallia  of  Matthew  and  Luke  are  of  a  pinker  hue  by  reason 
of  the  red  folds.    The  slate-blue  shadows  have  similarly  qualified 

1  Excavations  at  Saqqara,  1906-1907,  II,  p.  66.  But  compare  Cl^dat's  description  of 
the  paintings  at  Bawit  (in  Cabrol,  Dictionnaire  d'archeologie  chrHienne  et  de  liturgie, 
s.v.  Baouit,  col.  232),  where  red  and  yellow  are  named  as  the  most  tenacious  colors. 


66 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


the  white  of  the  tunics.  Practically  identical  colors  and  processes 
were  employed  in  the  wall-paintings  at  Saqqara,  to  judge  from 
Quibell's  description,  particularly  in  the  decoration  of  the  north 
wall  of  Cell  A  in  the  monastery.'  Here  "four  colors  were  used, 
black,  yellow,  slate  blue,  red,  and  for  the  flesh  of  the  figure  on  the 
left,  pink  with  a  greenish  mixture  in  the  shadows.  The  figures 
were  painted  in  with  broad  streaks  of  color  and  the  black  outline 
added  last." 

The  portraits  of  the  Evangelists  afforded  by  our  panels  are  of 
great  value  to  the  student  of  Coptic  iconography,  since  they  give 
us  a  series  in  which  the  several  Evangelists  can  be  identified,  and 
in  which  the  figures  are  well  preserved  or  capable  of  restoration. 
According  to  our  portraits  Matthew  and  Luke  were  visualized  in 
Egypt  as  men  in  the  prime  of  life,  with  black  hair  and  beards, 
while  Mark  partakes  of  the  more  advanced  age  of  John,  and  is 
represented  with  gray  hair,  head  slightly  bald  and  long  pointed 
beard.  These  types  of  the  Evangelists  are  the  ones  usual  in  East 
Christian  art,"  with  the  important  exception  of  Mark,  where  we 
have  a  portrait  distinctly  differing  from  the  current  one  of 
Byzantine  art,  and  amounting  to  a  characteristic  Coptic  type. 

In  Byzantine  painting  the  Evangelist  is  always  a  man  in  the 
prime  of  life  with  round  full  beard  —  a  tradition  that  dates  back  to 
the  sixth  century  and  is  represented  by  the  portrait  of  Mark  in  the 
Codex  Rossanensis  (Fig.  15).  The  earliest  Coptic  monument 
I  know  which  depicts  the  Evangelists  is  a  relief  in  the  Metro- 
politan Museum  in  New  York,''  which  can  hardly  be  later  than 
the  fifth  century.  In  the  centre  of  the  relief  Christ  is  represented 
seated  with  twelve  baskets  of  loaves  at  His  right  hand,  arranged 
vertically  in  rows  of  four.  Two  angels  stand  at  His  left  hand, 
and  another  beside  the  baskets.    The  subject  is  of  course  the 

1  Op.  cit.  p.  64.  A  quite  similar  palette  was  used  at  Deir-Abou-Hennes  (Gayet,  op. 
cit.  p.  273). 

2  John  is  represented  regularly  throughout  the  fourth  and  fifth  centuries  as  a  young 
and  beardless  man.  In  later  East  Christian  art  he  becomes  an  aged  man  when  depicted  as 
the  Evangelist,  and  a  young  man  when  portrayed  as  an  apostle.  The  differentiation  of  the 
Beloved  Disciple  from  the  aged  writer  of  the  fourth  Gospel  commences  in  the  sixth  century. 
For  example,  while  in  the  sixth  century  mosaics  of  S.  Vitale  in  Ravenna  all  four  of  the 
Evangelists  are  represented  as  men  advanced  in  years,  the  medallion  portraits  of  the  Codex 
Rossanensis.  of  the  same  period,  give  John  an  aged  appearance,  but  represent  Matthew, 
Mark  and  Luke  in  the  prime  of  life. 

3  Ninth  Egyptian  Room:  lo  .  176  .  21. 


Plate  XII, 


I 


COVERS  OF  WASHINGTON  MANUSCRIPT  67 


Multiplication  of  Loaves  and  Fishes,  but  the  artist  has  added  two 
seated  figures  holding  books  in  their  left  hands  at  either  end  of 
the  relief,  which  evidently  are  meant  for  the  Evangelists.  They 
are  not,  however,  distinguished  by  labels  or  other  attributes,  and 
the  heads  are  defaced. 

So  far  as  the  Coptic  type  of  Mark  is  concerned,  the  charac- 
teristic features  which  distinguish  it  from  the  Byzantine  rendering 
were  noticed  by  Strzygowski  in  his  publication  of  a  piece  of  Early 
Christian  wood-sculpture  from  Egypt  in  the  Berlin  Museum. ^ 
Strzygowski  cited  the  head  of  Mark  on  a  wooden  door  (early 
tenth  century)  of  the  church  El-Hadra  in  Deir  es-Suriani  to  show 
the  existence  of  a  "  Paul  "-type  of  Mark  in  Coptic  art,  and  argued 
therefrom  that  the  Evangelist  was  also  represented  in  the  seated 
figure  of  a  bald-headed  man  with  a  pointed  beard,  holding  a  book 
and  surrounded  by  thirty-five  ecclesiastics,  in  a  carved  ivory  in  the 
Louvre.  He  explained  the  thirty-five  figures  as  the  successors  of 
Mark  on  the  episcopal  throne  of  Alexandria,  which  would  date 
the  piece  in  the  reign  of  Anastasius,  the  thirty-sixth  patriarch,  who 
presided  over  the  see  from  607  to  609.  The  same  type  is  used  in 
a  series  of  panels  in  the  Museo  Archeologico  at  Milan,  and  in  a 
panel  of  the  Victoria  and  Albert  Museum,  representing  the  Acts 
of  St.  Mark  in  the  Pentapolis.  It  is  a  question,  however,  whether 
the  last-named  group  is  of  Egyptian  origin,  or  sufficiently  early  in 
date  to  count  in  this  connection.''  The  Freer  portrait  is  thus  the 
first  published  monument  definitely  to  confirm  Strzygowski's  con- 
tention of  a  distinctive  type  for  the  Evangelist  in  Coptic  art,  that 
is,  a  slightly  bald  and  elderly  man,  with  pointed  beard,  and  much 
resembling  the  traditional  portrait  of  Paul. 

The  date  of  the  covers  must  be  determined  chiefly  on  the  basis 
of  style,  but  some  evidence  on  this  point  is  furnished  by  the  manu- 
script itself,  which  shows  traces  of  rebinding.  There  are,  for 
instance,  two  cases  of  the  sewing-in  of  half-leaves,  where  the 
opposite  half  has  been  torn  out  and  is  lost.  In  one  case,  a  half-leaf 
has  been  torn  out  and  pasted  back  in  the  manuscript.  All  these 
instances  show  that  the  manuscript  was  apart  at  the  time,  for  the 
ends  of  the  leaves,  and  the  sewing  as  well,  were  concealed  in  the 
binding.    The  manuscript  must  therefore  have  been  rebound,  and 

1  Orient  oder  Rom,  p.  71  fF.,  and  Oriens  Christ.  I,  p.  366. 

^  See  Dalton,  Byzantine  Art  Gr'  Archaeology,  pp.  213  and  234. 


68 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


the  worn  condition  of  the  leaves,  betokening  long  use,  points  to 
more  than  one  rebinding.  It  is  likely  therefore  that  the  paintings 
of  the  covers  are  considerably  later  than  the  text,  none  of  which 
antedates  the  fourth  century. 

This  is  borne  out  by  a  comparison  of  the  paintings  with  other 
Coptic  monuments  of  reasonably  certain  date,  particularly  the 
paintings  discovered  in  the  funerary  chapels  at  Bawit,  and  in  the 
monastery  cells  at  Saqqara.'  Cledat,  to  whom  we  owe  the  best 
publications  of  the  Bawit  paintings,  allows  a  range  from  the  fifth 
to  the  twelfth  century  for  the  Bawit  monuments  in  general,^  and 
-  is  very  reluctant  to  give  definite  dates  to  the  paintings,  though 
inclining  to  put  most  of  them  in  the  sixth  century.  Only  one  of 
the  chapels  which  he  explored  produced  material  evidence  as  to 
date;  that  is,  Chapel  XVII,  one  of  whose  paintings,  decorating  a 
niche  in  the  east  wall,  is  reproduced  in  Fig.  29,  Grafifiti  scratched 
on  the  walls  of  this  chapel  contain  dates  belonging  in  the  eighth 
century,  and  the  decoration,  as  Cledat  pointed  out,  must  therefore 
be  no  later  than  the  eighth  century,  "  ou  meme  Vlle."^  Cledat 
elsewhere  says'*  that  the  paintings  of  Chapel  XVII  seem  to  belong 
to  the  sixth  century. 

It  will  be  noted,  in  comparing  the  figures  on  the  covers  with 
those  in  the  Bawit  painting,  that  they  are  cruder  than  the  latter 
in  design,  but  show  so  striking  a  similarity  to  them  in  the  treat- 
ment of  details  that  it  is  impossible  to  suppose  that  the  monuments 
are  very  far  apart  in  date.  The  apostle  on  the  Virgin's  left  hand 
in  the  Bawit  painting  has  many  points  of  contact  with  the  Mark 
and  Luke  on  the  covers.  We  may  compare,  for  example,  the 
angular  beard  of  the  apostle  with  that  of  St.  Luke.  Again,  we 
note  a  close  correspondence  in  the  stripes  on  the  wrists  of  both 
the  apostle  and  St.  Mark,  in  the  black  stroke  separating  right  arm 
and  breast,  in  the  dots  and  stripes  and  the  arrangement  of  the 
drapery,  and  the  way  in  which  the  right  leg  is  indicated  beneath 
the  pallium.  The  enormous  haloes  afford  another  common  feature, 
while  both  the  Bawit  painting  and  the  covers  show  the  same 
summary  way  of  painting  the  sandalled  foot,  and  the  ground-strip 

1  Cf.  for  Bawit,  Cledat,  Comptes  rendus  de  I'Acad.  des  Inscr.  1902  and  1904;  Mem.  de 
rinstitui  franq.  d'' Archiologie  orient.  XII ;  s.  v.  Baouit  in  Cabrol,  op.  cit.  For  Saqqara, 
J.  E.  Quibell,  Excavations  at  Saqqara,  1906-1907. 

'•^  Comptes  rendus  de  VAcad.  des  Inscr.  1902,  p.  537. 

^  Mem.  de  V Instit .  franc.  d''Arch.  orient.  XII,  2,  p.  83. 

*  In  Cabrol,  op.  cit.  s.  v.  Baouit,  col.  229. 


COVERS  OF  WASHINGTON  AiANUSCRIPT 


69 


on  which  the  figures  stand.  The  real  difference  between  the  two 
paintings  is  not  one  of  style,  but  of  quality ;  the  Bawit  figures  are 
at  once  freer  and  more  sure  in  execution,  while  the  covers  betray 
their  decadence  and  a  later  date  by  a  certain  laxity  of  conception 
and  drawing.  Another  point  of  divergence  is  the  attitude  of 
Mark,  who  stands  in  an  easy  pose,  resting  the  weight  of  the  body 
on  one  leg,  a  posture  rarely  seen  in  the  sixth  century,  but  increas- 
ingly common  thereafter,  and  characteristic  of  Byzantine  art. 


FIG.  29.    The  Ascension.    P.\inting  in  CHArm.  XVII  at  BawIt. 


The  Bawit  figures,  on  the  other  hand,  are  more  squarely  planted 
on  both  feet.  The  same  marks  of  later  date,  with  the  exception 
of  the  attitude  of  Mark,  are  visible  in  a  similar  painting  found  in 
Chapel  XLII,  representing  Christ  in  glory  surrounded  by  the 
symbols  of  the  Evangelists,  and  below  Him  the  Virgin  and  Child 
enthroned  in  the  midst  of  the  apostles.^  Here,  if  we  may  judge 
from  Cledat's  drawing,  the  treatment  of  drapery,  faces,  hands  and 
feet  betrays  the  same  decadence,  and  points  to  the  .same  relative 

^  Cabrol,  op.  cit.  fig.  1280. 


1 


70 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


date  as  that  of  the  covers.  This  date  should  be  measurably  later 
than  that  of  the  painting  of  Chapel  XVII. 

We  find  the  style  of  the  covers  reflected  again  in  the  painting 
reproduced  in  Fig.  30,  which  represents  part  of  a  group  decorating 
a  niche  in  Cell  F  at  Saqqara.    In  this  the  crudeness  is  accentuated, 


FIG.  30.    Three  Saints.    W'Ai.L-rAiNTiNG  in  Cell  F  in 
THE  Monastery  at  Saqqara. 


and  visible  in  the  exaggerated  curvilinear  treatment  of  the  hands. 
The  feet  dangle,  and  the  artist  found  it  impossible  to  render  the 
folds  of  the  drapery.  We  have  here  a  monument  obviously  later 
than  the  covers,  but  the  community  of  style  is  seen  in  the  triple 
vertical  division  of  the  tunic,  the  arrangement  of  the  drapery  of 
the  central  figure,  the  angular  beards,  the  indication  of  the  sandals 


COVERS  OF  WASHINGTON  MANUSCRIPT 


and  the  dots  on  the  tunics.  A  graffito  scratched  on  one  of  the 
figures  in  the  niche  was  seen  by  Grcnfell,  who  pronounced  it  to  be 
of  the  eighth  century.'  It  was  afterwards  washed  away  by  rain, 
but  Grenfell's  judgment  may  be  taken  to  indicate  the  tert)iiinis  ad 
t]7iem  for  the  date  of  the  painting  under  di.scussion. 

The  style  of  the  book-covers  may,  therefore,  be  traced  through 
a  series  of  monuments  in  which  a  chronological  sequence  can  be 
established  as  follows:  (i)  Chapel  XVII,  Bawit ;  (2)  Cha})el 
XLII,  Bawit,  and  the  Freer  covers;  (3)  the  Saqqara  painting  in 
Cell  F.  The  evidence  of  the  graffiti  shows  that  (i)  and  (3)  are  no 
later  than  the  eighth  century.  This  establishes  the  lower  limit 
for  the  period  in  which  the  covers  must  be  placed.  It  remains  to 
find  the  terminus  post  quern,  in  other  words,  to  date,  if  we  can,  the 
earliest  one  of  our  series,  the  painting  in  Chapel  XVII  at  Bawit. 
And  this  is  the  more  important  since  Strzygowski-  has  questioned 
the  propriety  of  the  sixth  century  as  the  average  date  for  the 
Bawit  paintings,  and  is  inclined  to  place  them  earlier  than  Cledat. 

The  composition  which  decorates  the  niche  in  Chapel  XVII 
obviously  represents  the  Ascension.  Christ  sits  on  a  jewelled 
throne  in  the  midst  of  a  glory,  blessing  with  His  right  hand,  and 
holding  an  open  book  in  His  left,  on  which  one  reads  the  word 
ayto9,  '  holy,'  three  times  inscribed.  From  the  clouds  that  support 
the  glory  emerge  the  heads  of  the  Evangelical  beasts.  To  right 
and  left  are  angels  carrying  wreaths,  and  near  each  appears  a 
woman's  head  framed  in  a  medallion.  Below  we  see  the  Virgin 
and  the  apostles,  with  St.  Peter  holding  a  key  and  book  in  his 
left  hand,  occupying  the  place  of  honor  to  the  right  of  the 
Virgin. 

The  composition  is  of  Syro-Palestinian  origin,''  and  first 
appears  in  a  form  essentially  similar  to  the  Bawit  example  in 
the  Syriac  Gospel  of  the  Laurentian  Library  at  Florence,  which 
was  written  in  Zagba,  Mesopotamia,  by  the  monk  Rabulas,  in  the 

1  Quibell,  op.  at.  II,  p.  67. 

Denkschriften  der  Wiener  Akad.  (Phil. -Hist.  Kl.),  1906:  Eine  alexandrisclie 
Weltchronik,  p.  193. 

^  The  type  was  derived,  according  to  Heisenberg  {pp.  cit.  II,  p.  1961!".),  from  a  lost 
mosaic  of  the  church  of  the  Apostles  in  Constantinople,  dating  in  the  time  of  Justinian 
(see  p.  55),  which  formed  the  model  of  the  composition  on  the  Monza  phials,  and  of  the  later 
Byzantine  versions.  It  seems  more  likely,  however,  that  the  archetype  is  to  be  sought  in 
an  earlier  Palestinian  mo.saic.  and  interesting  data  on  this  point  may  be  expected  from 
Strzygowski's  forthcoming  publication  of  the  Byzantine  gold  ornaments  in  the  Morgan 
collection. 


72 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


year  586.  The  Syrian  miniature  (Fig.  31)  also  depicts  Christ  in 
the  glory,  and  the  wreath-bearing  angels  on  either  side.  As  at 
Bawit,  we  find  the  Virgin  below,  standing  in  an  attitude  of  prayer 
among  the  apostles.  But  the  miniature  adds  the  busts  of  the  sun 
and  moon  in  the  upper  corners  of  the  picture,  groups  the  symbols 
of  the  Evangelists  below  the  glory,  inserts  two  half-figures  of 


FIG.  31.   The  Ascension.   Miniature  of  the  Syriac  Gospel  of  Rabulas. 


angels  above  it,  depicts  Christ  standing,  and  holding  an  unrolled 
scroll  instead  of  a  book  and  lastly  inserts  on  either  side  of  the 
Virgin  an  angel  who  carries  a  staff  and  directs  the  attention  of 
the  apostles  to  the  ascending  Christ.  The  two  medallions  with 
the  female  heads  are  also  omitted  in  the  manuscript.  The  chief 
difference  is  found  in  the  treatment  of  the  lower  group.  In  the 
Rabulas  miniature  there  is  much  movement,  the  apostles  gaze 
and  point  upward  with  expressive  gestures  and  attitudes,  and  are 


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73 


huddled  in  groups  of  six  on  either  side  of  the  Virgin.  The  latter, 
too,  partakes  in  a  measure  of  the  general  excitement.  In  the 
Bawit  painting  the  lower  group  is  stiff  and  quiet,  the  apostles 
stand  in  frontal  attitudes  holding  books  in  their  hands,  and  are 
rendered  in  a  hieratic  fashion  that  suppresses  the  dram.atic  con- 
nection of  the  lower  zone  with  the  scene  above. 

The  distinctly  Palestinian  version  of  the  type  is  represented 
by  a  number  of  reliefs  on  the  famous  oil-flasks  of  Monza,  which 
were  made  in  Palestine  about  600^  (Fig-  32).  In  these  reliefs, 
Christ  is  depicted  seated  on  a 
throne,  and  holding  a  book,  as 
at  Bawit.  The  symbols  of  the 
Evangelists  are  omitted,  and 
two  or  four  angels  sustain  the 
aureole.  A  dove  and  the  Dex- 
tera  Domini  are  in  one  case 
inserted  below  the  glory  and 
above  the  head  of  the  Virgin.'- 
Below  stand  the  Virgin  and  the 
apostles.  The  latter  are  di- 
vided into  two  groups  as  in  the 
Rabulas  Gospel,  and  usually 
show  the  excited  gestures  and 
attitudes  of  the  Syrian  type. 
At  least  one  of  the  flasks,  how- 
ever,^ gives  a  composition  that 
closely  resembles  the  Bawit 
painting,  in  that  only  two 
angels  are  represented  beside  the  glory  that  surrounds  the 
Saviour,  and  the  apostles  below  are  quiet  figures  standing  in  a 
row  on  either  side  of  the  Virgin,  giving  thus  the  air  of  detach- 
ment to  the  lower  group  which  was  noted  above. 

The  conventionalized  version  of  the  Ascension  type  which 
was  used  in  the  relief  of  the  Monza  flask  just  mentioned  must 
have  been  in  the  mind  of  the  artist  who  composed  the  peculiar 
mosaic  in  the  chapel  of  S.  Venanzio  at  Rome  (a.  640-649).^  This 

1  Garrucci,  op.  cii .  VI,  pis.  433,  8.10;  434.  2.3;  435,  i. 
Garrucci.  op.cit.  VI.  434.  3.   Heisenberg.  op.cit.  II.  p.  198  maintains  that  in  tliis  case  tlie 
artist  has  adapted  the  Ascension  type  to  a  representation  of  the  Descent  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
3  Garrucci,  op.  cit.  VI.  pi.  433.  8.       ^  De  Rossi,  Musaici  cristiani  di  Ro)na,  pi.  XI.X. 


FIG.  32.  The  Ascension.  Relief  on  an 
E.VRLY  Christia.v  Oil-flask  at  Monza. 


74 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


indeed  is  not  an  Ascension,  but  the  composition  is  evidently  based 
on  the  type  that  we  have  been  discussing,  for  we  see  a  half-figure 
of  Christ  among  the  clouds  of  heaven  in  the  vault  of  the  apse, 
flanked  by  two  half-figures  of  adoring  angels,  and  below  is  the 
figure  of  the  Virgin-orant,  with  Peter  and  Paul  on  either  side, 
heading  a  series  of  the  saints  commemorated  in  the  oratory.  Here 
again  the  upper  and  lower  parts  of  the  composition  are  distinct, 
and  the  same  statuesque  pose  is  given  to  the  saints  of  the  lower 
zone.  Another  adaptation  of  the  type  is  found  in  the  painting 
above  mentioned  in  Chapel  XL  1 1  at  Bawit,  where  the  concept  of 
the  Ascension  again  is  lost,  and  the  Virgin-orant  is  replaced  by  a 
seated  Madonna  holding  the  Child  in  her  lap. 

The  Bawit  painting  shows  an  eclectic  use  of  both  the  Syrian 
and  the  Palestinian  types  of  the  Ascension.  It  retains  the  four 
symbols  of  the  Evangelists  which  are  omitted  in  the  Monza  flasks, 
and  thus  shows  affinity  with  the  miniature  in  the  Rabulas  manu- 
script, though  it  distributes  them  symmetrically  around  the 
aureole,  and  does  not  group  them  below  it,  as  is  the  case  with  the 
miniature.  On  the  other  hand,  it  coincides  more  closely  with 
the  composition  of  the  Monza  flasks  in  rendering  Christ  en- 
throned and  holding  a  book,  instead  of  standing  and  holding  a 
scroll  as  He  is  represented  in  the  Syrian  Gospel,  and  is  very 
like  one  of  the  flasks,  and  also  like  the  seventh  century  mosaic 
of  S.  Venanzio,  in  conventionalizing  the  scene  by  means  of  the 
hieratic  treatment  given  the  lower  group.  Judging  therefore  from 
its  iconography,  we  should  incline  to  give  the  Bawit  painting  a 
date  coeval  with,  or  somewhat  later  than,  the  date  of  the  Monza 
flasks. 

Such  imitation  of  Syro-Palestinian  models  on  the  part  of 
Coptic  artists  is  by  no  means  new  to  students  of  the  Christian 
art  of  Egypt.  A  fresco  at  Antinoe  representing  the  Massacre  of 
the  Innocents  is  clearly  derived  from  the  rendering  of  the  same 
subject  in  the  Rabulas  Gospel,  and  the  Journey  to  Bethlehem  in 
the  same  cycle  of  paintings  is  similarly  related  to  the  correspond- 
ing scene  on  the  ivory  cover  of  the  Etschmiadzin  Gospel,  which 
is  recognized  as  a  Syrian  work.^  A  distributing  centre  of  such 
influence  on  Coptic  iconography  may  have  been  the  Syrian  clois- 
ter of  Deir  es-Suriani,  and  there  in  fact  we  find  a  tenth-century 

'  I  am  indebted  for  these  observations  to  Mr.  E.  B.  Smith. 


COVERS  OF  WASHINGTON  MANUSCRIPT 


75 


painting  of  the  Ascension,'  which,  while  conforming  in  most 
respects  to  the  version  of  the  Monza  flasks,  still  retains  the  sun 
and  moon  of  the  Syrian  type.  The  earlier  painting  which  it 
replaced  has  left  sufificient  traces  of  itself  to  show  that  it  was  even 
more  like  the  Rabulas  miniature  in  that  it  contained  the  two  staff- 
bearing  angels  in  the  lower  group. 

We  have  said  that,  so  far  as  the  iconography  of  the  Bawit 
Ascension  is  concerned,  it  should  be  dated  about  600,  or  some- 
what later.  But  dates  based  on  iconography  must  always  be  elas- 
tic, and  in  this  case,  the  strong  Hellenistic  survivals  visible  in 
other  paintings  of  Chapel  XVII,  notably  in  the  head  of  an  angel 
tormenting  the  damned  in  a  representation  of  Hell,'-  and  in  cer- 
tain details  of  the  Baptism  of  Christ,^  make  it  unlikely  that  the 
decoration  of  the  chapel  is  later  than  the  sixth  century.  Nor  is 
the  formal  treatment  of  the  theme,  as  compared  with  the  livelier 
versions  of  the  Rabulas  Gospel  and  most  of  the  Monza  flasks, 
necessarily  indicative  of  a  later  date,  for  the  tendency  toward  a 
hieratic  rendering  is  a  factor  constant  in  the  Coptic.  The  white 
cloth  in  Mary's  girdle  is  of  little  assistance  in  determining  the 
date,  for,  while  it  is  characteristic  of  the  Virgin  in  later  Ascen- 
sions, it  nevertheless  occurs  in  the  Rabulas  miniature  and  has 
been  pointed  out  by  Strzygowski  in  an  Annunciation  among  the 
Syrian  miniatures  of  the  Etschmiadzin  Gospel,  which  he  dates  as 
early  as  the  first  half  of  the  sixth  century.^  We  shall  scarcely 
err,  in  view  of  these  considerations,  in  placing  the  Bawit  Ascen- 
sion between  550  and  600.  The  decadence  manifested  in  the 
style  of  the  book-covers  would  date  them  in  a  somewhat  later 
period,  and  they  can  therefore  be  assigned  roughly  to  the  first 
half  of  the  seventh  century.  The  middle  of  this  century,  or  its 
latter  half,  is  thus  indicated  as  the  date  of  the  painting  in  Cell  F 
at  Saqqara. 

The  evolution  of  Early  Christian  art  is  understood  to-day 
(thanks  chiefly  to  the  investigations  of  Strzygowski)  as  the  grad- 
ual Orientalizing  of  the  Hellenic  forms  bequeathed  to  the  Chris- 
tian era  by  antiquity.  The  tide  of  Greek  naturalism  which  over- 
ran the  Mediterranean  basin  in  the  wake  of  the  conquests  of 
Alexander  never  obliterated  the  artistic  traditions  of  Egypt  and 

1  Strzygowski,  Oriens  Christ.  I,  pp.  360  ff.        ^  Cabrol.  op.  cit.  fig.  1278. 

8  Cabrol,  op.  cit.  fig.  1282.  *  Byz.  Denkmiiler,  I,  p.  71,  pi.  V.  2. 


76 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


Mesopotamia.  Hardly  had  Greek  art  become  established  in  Asia 
and  the  valley  of  the  Nile  when  there  began  against  it  and  within 
it  the  reaction  of  the  Orient,  traceable  in  a  number  of  significant 
symptoms  such  as  the  obliteration  of  the  background,  the  growing 
contrast  between  the  lights  and  shadows,  frontality,  one-plane  re- 
lief, symmetrical  composition,  and  above  all  a  conventional  render- 
ing of  animate  life. 

Egypt  furnished  perhaps  the  most  fertile  soil  in  which  the 
seeds  of  this  reaction  could  grow.  Greek  art  was  really  never  at 
home  in  that  country.  Alexandria  itself  was  the  most  Hellenistic 
of  cities,  but  the  country  as  a  whole  clung  to  ancient  modes  of  ex- 
pression, as  indeed  may  be  seen  from  the  small  impression  made 
by  Greek  notions  on  the  religious  art  and  architecture  under  the 
Ptolemies  and  Rome.  The  Christian  religion,  nevertheless,  came 
in  Greek  guise  to  the  Copts  as  well  as  to  the  other  peoples  of  the 
Mediterranean.  Its  stories  and  dogmas  were  cast  in  Greek  ar- 
tistic moulds,  and  the  sanction  thus  given  to  Hellenistic  forms  pre- 
vailed long  against  the  rising  influence  of  Eastern  art. 

In  Egypt,  therefore,  the  conflict  took  the  form  of  a  duel  be- 
tween the  Hellenistic  Christian  fashions  of  Alexandria  and  the 
native  traditions  of  Upper  Egypt.  Alfred  Gayet  has  devoted  an 
interesting  volume  ^  to  the  thesis  that  the  Copts,  the  native  Chris- 
tians of  Egypt,  were  but  passive  recipients  of  the  early  Hellenistic 
phase  of  Christian  religion  and  Christian  art,  and  that  the  subse- 
quent history  of  their  indigenous  painting  and  sculpture,  as  well 
as  of  their  theology,  is  but  a  series  of  successive  and  successful  re- 
actions of  a  spiritual  people,  lovers  of  the  mystic,  dealers  in  sym- 
bolism, against  the  materialism  of  Greek  thought.  Hence  the 
monophysite  Coptic  theology,  and  the  conventional,  unreal  Coptic 
art.  Certain  it  is  that  none  of  the  early  schools  displayed  so 
marked  a  contrast  between  its  first  essays  and  its  later  develop- 
ment. The  early  products  of  the  Christian  ateliers  of  Alexandria 
are  the  most  Hellenic  of  Christian  monuments,  with  the  possible 
exception  of  the  works  produced  in  Asia  Minor  ;  and  nowhere  at 
a  later  period  do  we  meet  with  so  crude  and  conventional  a  render- 
ing of  nature,  and  so  pronounced  a  tendency  on  the  part  of  formal 
ornament  to  elbow  out  the  naturalistic,  as  in  Egypt.  Gayet  indeed 
finds  much  to  support  his  contention  that  Mohammedan  polygonal 
ornament  is  but  a  development  of  Coptic  design. 

^  UArt  Coptc,  Paris,  1902. 


1 


Plate  XIII. 


Luke  and  Mark 


COVERS  OF  WASHINGTON  MANUSCRIPT 


It  may  be  said  therefore  that  the  history  of  Coptic  art  is  the 
transformation  of  a  free  Greek  naturahsm  into  a  conventional 
style  of  the  crudest  character.  That  this  change  was  conditioned 
in  some  degree  by  influences  from  Syria  and  Palestine  seems 
clear  from  what  has  been  pointed  out  with  reference  to  the  effect 
of  Syro- Palestinian  iconography  on  Coptic  representations  of 
sacred  subjects,  but  the  extent  to  which  these  influences  made 
themselves  effective  in  Egypt  is  not  yet  thoroughly  understood. 
It  is,  however,  worthy  of  note  that  the  time  when  Syria  and  Pales- 
tine most  affected  the  rest  of  the  Mediterranean  basin,  the  sixth 
and  seventh  centuries,  is  also  the  period  when  the  last  vestige  of 
Hellenism  was  squeezed  out  of  Coptic  art. 

To  illustrate  in  detail  the  evolution  of  the  Christian  art  of 
Egypt  is  no  part  of  the  present  writer's  task,  but  its  general 
character  may  be  indicated  briefly  by  pointing  out  certain  changes 
which  gradually  manifested  themselves  in  the  treatment  of  the 
human  figure.  As  is  well  known,  later  Greek  art  showed  a 
pronounced  preference  for  a  figure  in  free  movement,  unconfined 
to  a  given  plane,  in  contrast  to  the  frontality,  or  unifaciality, 
which  characterizes  Oriental  art,  and  the  earlier  phases  of  Greek. 
This  preference  expressed  itself  most  often  in  a  fondness  for  the 
three-quarters  view  of  the  face  and  body,  and  the  artists,  particu- 
larly in  the  Roman  period,  frequently  enhanced  this  effect  by 
shifting  the  pupil  of  the  eye  in  a  direction  angular  to  that  toward 
which  the  face  was  turned,  giving  the  appearance  of  a  sidewise 
glance.  It  is  this  oblique  gaze  which  marks  the  survival  of 
Hellenistic  tradition  in  Christian  art  wherever  it  is  found, —  in 
the  primitive  phase  before  the  frontality  of  the  East  brought  in 
the  curious  stare  that  is  so  marked  a  feature  of  the  mosaics  of 
the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries,  and  in  the  post-iconoclastic 
Byzantine,  when  a  fresh  infusion  of  Hellenism  followed  a  revival 
of  interest  on  the  part  of  the  East  Christian  craftsmen  in  their 
Greek  patrimony. 

This  feature  might  be  illustrated  by  any  number  of  examples 
drawn  from  Egyptian  monuments  which  reflect  the  early  Alexan- 
drian style,  such  as  the  Joshua  Roll  and  the  famous  illustrated 
codices  of  Cosmas  Indicopleustes.  It  will  be  more  interesting 
to  examine  an  example  wherein  the  Hellenistic  element  is  but 
a  reminiscence  struggling  to  view  through  the  already  dominant 
Coptic  formalism.    Such  a  case  is  presented  by  the  miniatures 


78 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


of  Fig.  33,  which  adorn  a  page  of  a  History  of  the  World,  written 
in  Greek  on  papyrus,  now  in  the  Golenisheff  collection  at  St. 
Petersburg.^  The  text  on  the  page  contains  a  chronicle  of 
the  events  of  the  years  389-392.  In  the  illustration  above  to  the 
left,  we  see  the  Emperor  Theodosius,  with  the  diminutive  and 
hardly  visible  figure  of  the  Caesar  Honorius  at  his  right.  Below 


FIG.  33.    Miniatures  of  a  History  of  the  World  in  the 
Golenisheff  Collection  at  St.  Petersburg. 


this  group  stands  Theophilus,  bishop  of  Alexandria,  and  beneath 
his  feet  is  the  temple  of  Serapis,  within  which  appears  the  statue 
of  the  god,  wearing  the  characteristic  modms  on  his  head.  The 
miniature  refers  to  the  great  achievement  of  Theophilus'  reign,  — 
the  destruction  of  the  Serapeion  by  the  Christians  of  Alexandria. 

^  Published  by  A.  Bauer  and  J.  Strzygowski  in  Denkschriften  der  Wiener  Akad. 
(Phil. -Hist.  Kl.)  1906.  Cf.  also  Wilpert's  critique  of  portions  of  Strzygowski's  article  in 
RbJH.  Quartalscrift,  1910,  pp.  1-29. 


COVERS  OF  WASHINGTON  MANUSCRIPT 


79 


The  theatrical  figure  to  the  right  is  the  pretender  Eugenics, 
whose  death  is  chronicled  in  the  accompanying  text,  and  below 
him  we  see  again  the  temple  of  Serapis,  assailed  by  two  fragmen- 
tary figures  of  Christians,  who  are  hurling  stones  at  the  structure. 
The  manuscript  is  assigned  by  Strzygowski  to  the  early  part  of 
the  fifth  century,  and  betrays  in  many  ways  an  origin  in  Upper 
Egypt,  thus  constituting  one  of  the  earliest 
existing  examples  of  native  Christian  art. 

The  reaction  against  the  traditions  of  Hel- 
lenism may  here  be  seen  in  the  frontality  given 
to  the  figure  of  Theophilus,  the  elimination  of 
any  rendering  of  environment,  the  flatness  of  the 
modelling,  and  indeed  the  general  unreality  of 
the  whole.  Yet  even  here  the  telltale  traces 
of  Greek  technique  are  visible  in  the  sidewise 
glance  of  the  eyes  and  the  three-quarters  pose 
of  the  dying  Eugenios.  The  face  of  the  latter 
marks  in  striking  manner  the  decay  of  Hellen- 
istic drawing.  The  Greek  habit  of  drawing 
the  face  in  a  three-quarters  view  has  led  the 
artist  to  a  summary  indication  of  eyebrow  and 
nose  by  a  zigzag  stroke  ;  thus  ~]_  J",  a  device 
which  was  employed  in  the  features  of  Theoph- 
ilus. But  in  the  face  of  Eugenios  he  gives 
us  a  zigzag  which  points  the  nose  toward  the 
right,  while  the  head  and  gaze  are  turned  in 
comical  contrast  to  the  left.  Such  an  instance 
of  misapplied  technical  tradition  is  eloquent 
of  the  painter  s  waning  grasp  of  reality. 

It  is  obvious  that  the  forms  of  naturalism  will 
survive  longer  in  episodes  and  scenes  of  action 
than  in  isolated  figures  like  that  of  Theophilus 
or  groups  of  the  kind  we  have  seen  in  the  Bawit 
paintings.  It  is  worth  while  therefore  to  compare  in  this  con- 
nection another  Coptic  monument  which  shows  the  growth  of 
Coptic  convention  even  in  the  rendering  of  episodic  scenes. 
This  monument  (Fig.  34)  is  a  wooden  panel  in  the  same  Goleni- 
sheff  collection,  first  published  by  Ainaloff  in  1898.^  Certain 


FIG.  34.   The  Nativ- 
ity AND  THE  BaP- 

T I  .s  M.  Painted 
Wooden  Panel  in 
the  golenisheff 
Collection  at  St. 
Petershurg. 


1  Viz.  Vrcinenik,  V,  pp.  181-186,  pi.  II. 


8o 


EAST  CHRISTIAN  PAINTINGS 


affinities  with  the  Rabulas  Gospel  which  are  manifest  in  the  panel 
make  it  certain  that  it  is  to  be  dated  at  least  a  hundred  years  later 
than  the  "  History  of  the  World."  Strzygowski  '  believes  that  it 
formed  one  of  the  side  pieces  of  a  five-part  leaf  of  a  diptych,  a 
form  common  in  Christian  ivories,  but  of  which  this  would  be  the 
only  example  in  wood.  The  upper  scene  represents  the  Nativity. 
Mary  reclines  upon  a  couch,  and  Joseph  is  standing  or  seated  be- 
side her.  Above  is  the  crudest  sort  of  representation  of  the  Child 
in  the  manger.  His  head  is  marked  with  a  cruciform  nimbus 
which  tapers  off  to  form  the  shapeless  body.  Behind  the  Child 
appears  a  portion  of  the  head  of  the  ass.  The  lower  scene  is  the 
Baptism.  Christ  is  bearded  (a  departure  from  Hellenistic  tradi- 
tion), John  bends  slightly  to  place  his  right  hand  on  the  head  of 
the  Saviour,  and  an  angel  to  the  right  holds  His  garments. 

There  is  scarcely  anything  in  Christian  art  more  uncouth  than 
this  panel.  The  staring  frontality  of  the  faces,  which  the  artist 
has  been  unable  to  escape  even  in  the  bent  head  of  the  Baptist, 
the  joining  of  the  adjacent  haloes,  the  summary  indication  of  the 
swaddled  Child,  the  hopeless  crudity  of  the  reclining  Mary,  —  be- 
token an  almost  completely  atrophied  sense  of  the  actual.  Only 
here  and  there  may  Hellenistic  tradition  be  surmised  —  in  the 
face  of  the  angel  perhaps,  and  more  clearly  in  the  zigzag  stroke 
still  used  to  indicate  the  brow  and  nose,  but  already  supplemented, 
to  render  the  nasal  ridge,  by  a  secondary  parallel  line. 

The  Golenisheff  panel,  being  painted  on  wood,  is  an  excellent 
parallel  for  our  book-covers,  and  there  are  many  features  common 
to  both  monuments.  Such  are  the  heavy  black  outlines,  the 
enormous  haloes,  the  angular  beard  of  Joseph,  the  peculiar  curve 
to  indicate  the  hair  above  the  middle  of  the  forehead,  and  the 
circle  and  dot  with  which  the  artist  draws  the  eye  and  pupil. 
But  the  panel  shows  its  earlier  date  in  the  use  of  gold  for  the 
nimbus,  and  a  stucco  priming  on  which  the  painting  is  overlaid 
—  features  reminiscent  to  a  degree  of  Hellenistic  technique.  The 
book-covers,  on  the  other  hand,  substituting  plain  yellow  for  the 
haloes,  and  showing  no  trace  of  priming,  reflect  the  processes  of  a 
later  period. 

The  Freer  book-covers  in  fact  represent  the  final  step  in  the 
evolution  briefly  sketched,  the  fully  developed  Coptic  style.  No 

1  op.  cit.  p.  201. 


I 


COVERS  OF  WASHINGTON  MANUSCRIPT  8i 


trace  of  Hellenism  remains  in  these  curiously  formal  figures,  un- 
less it  be  the  easy  attitude  of  Mark,  which,  as  previously  sug- 
gested, is  rather  an  indication  of  Byzantine  influence.  The  ridge 
of  the  nose  is  now  rendered  by  two  parallel  lines,  bodies  and  faces 
are  flat,  the  figures  repeat  conventional  types,  and  differentiation 
is  merely  a  matter  of  color  of  hair  and  drapery.  The  complete 
divorce  from  reality  reflects  the  last  stage  of  the  Coptic  revolt 
against  the  formulas  of  Hellenism.  The  covers  are  unique 
examples  of  the  purest  artistic  expression  of  this  strange  race  of 
symbolists,  devoid  at  once  of  that  interest  in  things  human  which 
inspires  the  rudest  works  of  Western  Europe,  and  the  sense  of 
abstract  beauty  which  relieves  the  most  formal  phases  of  the 
Byzantine. 


APPENDIX 


For  the  convenience  of  readers  who  may  wish  to  refer  to  the 
colored  reproductions  of  the  covers  of  the  Washington  Manuscript 
of  the  Gospels,  a  list  of  the  libraries  containing  the  Facsimile  cited 
in  the  footnote  on  p.  63  is  here  added. 


LIBRARIES  CONTAINING  THE  FACSIMILE  OF  THE  WASHINGTON 
MANUSCRIPT  OF  THE  GOSPELS,  JULY  i,  1914 


United  States 

Amherst,  Massachusetts  :  Amherst  College. 
Ann    Arbor,    Michigan :     University  of 
Michigan. 

Auburn,  New  York :  Auburn  Theological 

Seminary. 
Austin,  Texas  :  University  of  Texas. 

Baltimore,  Maryland:  Johns  Hopkins  Uni- 
versity- 

Beloit,  Wisconsin  :  Beloit  College. 
Berkeley,  California  :  University  of  Califor- 
nia. 

Bloomington,  Indiana:  University  of  In- 
diana. 

Boston,  Massachusetts :  Boston  Public 
Library. 

Boulder,  Colorado  :  L'niversity  of  Colo- 
rado. 

Brunswick,  Maine  :  Bowdoin  College. 
Bryn  Athyn,  Pennsylvania :    Academy  of 

the  New  Church. 
Bryn  Mawr,    Pennsylvania :    Bryn  Mawr 

College. 

Burlington,  Vermont:  University  of  Ver- 
mont. 

Cambridge,  Massachusetts  :  Andover  Theo- 
logical Seminary. 

Cambridge,  Massachusetts  :  Episcopal  Theo- 
logical School. 

Cambridge,  Massachusetts :  Harvard  Uni- 
versity. 

Chapel  Hill,  North  Carolina :  University  of 
North  Carolina. 


Charlottesville,  Virginia :  University  of 
Virginia. 

Chester,  Pennsylvania  :  Crozer  Theological 
Seminary. 

Chicago.  Illinois :  Chicago  Theological 
Seminary. 

Chicago,  Illinois :  McCormick  Theological 
Seminary. 

Chicago,  Illinois  :  Newberry  Library. 

Chicago,  Illinois:  University  of  Chicago. 

Cincinnati,  Ohio  :  Lane  Theological  Semi- 
nary. 

Cincinnati,  Ohio:  University  of  Cincinnati. 
Cleveland.  Ohio :   Western   Reserve  Uni 
versity. 

Clinton,  New  York  :  Hamilton  College. 
Colorado  Springs,  Colorado :  Colorado  Col- 
lege. 

Columbia,  Missouri :  University  of  Mis- 
souri. 

Columbus,  Ohio  :  Ohio  State  University. 
Crawfordsville,  Indiana  :  Wabash  College. 

Delaware,  Ohio:  Ohio  Wesleyan  Uni- 
versity. 

Denver.  Colorado :  Denver  Public  Library. 
Des  Moines.  Iowa :  Drake  University. 
Detroit,  Michigan :    Library  of  the  Uni- 
versity Club. 

Detroit,  Michigan  :  Detroit  Public  Library. 

Easton,  Pennsylvania  :  Lafayette  College. 
Eugene,  Oregon  :  University  of  Oregon. 
Evanston,    Illinois:    Northwestern  Uni- 
versity. 


83 


84 


APPENDIX 


Galesburg,  Illinois:  Knox  College. 
Geneva,  New  York  :  Hobart  College. 
Gettysburg,  Pennsylvania  :  Lutheran  Theo- 
logical Seminary. 
Greencastle.  Indiana:  De  Fauw  University. 
Grinnell,  Iowa  :  Grinnell  College. 

Hamilton,  New  York:  Colgate  University. 
Hanover.    New    Hampshire :  Dartmouth 
College. 

Hartford,  Connecticut :  Hartford  Theologi- 
cal Seminary. 

Hartford,  Connecticut :  Trinity  College. 

Haverford,  Pennsylvania :  Haverford  Col- 
lege. 

Holland,  Michigan  :  Hope  College. 

Indianapolis,  Indiana:  Indiana  State  Li- 
brary. 

Iowa  City,  Iowa  :  University  of  Iowa. 
Ithaca,  New  York  :  Cornell  University. 

Lawrence.  Kansas  :  Uni\  ersity  of  Kansas. 
Lewisburg,   Pennsylvania :   Bucknell  Uni- 
versity. 

Lexington,  Kentucky :  Transylvania  Uni- 
versity. 

Lincoln,  Nebraska  :  University  of  Nebraska. 
Louisville,    Kentucky :    Southern  Baptist 
Theological  Seminary. 

Madison,  New  Jersey :  Drew  Theological 
Seminary. 

Madison,  Wisconsin :  University  of  Wis- 
consin. 

Meadville,  Pennsylvania :  Meadville  Theo- 
logical Seminary. 

Middletown.  Connecticut :  Wesleyan  Uni- 
versity. 

MinneapoHs,    Minnesota:    University  of 

Minnesota. 
Mount  Vernon,  Iowa  :  Cornell  College. 

Nashville,  Tennessee :  Vanderbilt  Uni- 
versity. 

New  Brunswick,  New  Jersey  :  Rutgers  Col- 
lege. 

New  Bnmswick,  New  Jersey:  Theological 
Seminary  of  the  Reformed  Church  of 
America. 

New  Haven,  Connecticut :  Yale  University. 
New  Orleans,  Louisiana  :  Tulane  University. 
New  York  :  American  Bible  Society- 
New  York  :  Columbia  University. 
New  York  :  Library  of  the  Grolier  Club. 


New  York  :  J .  Pierpont  Morgan  Library. 

New  York :  New  York  Public  Library. 

New  York  :  New  York  University. 

New  York  :  Union  Theological  Seminary. 

Newton  Center,  Massachusetts :  Newton 
Theological  Institution. 

Norman.  Oklahoma :  University  of  Okla- 
homa. 

Northampton,  Massachusetts :  Smith  Col- 
lege. 

Notre  Dame.  Indiana :  Notre  Dame  Uni- 
versity. 

Oberlin,  Ohio  :  Oberlin  College. 
Olivet.  Michigan  :  Olivet  College. 
Oxford,  Ohio:  Miami  University. 

Philadelphia.  Pennsylvania :  American 
Philosophical  Society. 

Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania :  Dropsie  Col- 
lege. 

Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania  :  Lutheran  The- 
ological Seminary. 

Philadelphia,  Pennsylvania :  University  of 
Pennsylvania. 

Pittsburg,  Pennsylvania:  Carnegie  Library. 

Poughkeepsie,  New  York  :  Vassar  College. 

Princeton,  New  Jersey :  Princeton  Theo- 
logical Seminary. 

Providence,  Rhode  Island:  Brown  Univer- 
sity. 

Richmond,  Indiana:  Earlham  College. 

Rochester,  New  York  :  Rochester  Theologi- 
cal Seminary. 

Rochester,  New  York :  University  of  Roches- 
ter. 

Rock  Island,  Illinois:  Augustana  College. 

St.  Louis.  Missouri :  Concordia  Theological 
Seminary. 

St.  Louis,  Missouri :  Washington  University- 
Salt  Lake  City.  Utah  :  University  of  Utah. 
Schenectady,  New  York  :  Union  University. 
Seattle,  Washington  :  University  of  Wash- 
ington. 

South  Bethlehem.  Pennsylvania :  Lehigh 
University. 

South  Hadley,  Massachusetts  :  Mount  Hol- 

yoke  College. 
Stanford    University.    California:  Leland 

Stanford  Junior  University. 
Swarthmore.    Pennsylvania:  Swarthmore 

College. 

Syracuse,  New  York  :  Syracuse  University. 


APPENDIX 


Topeka,  Kansas  :  Washburn  College. 
Tufts  College,  Massachusetts :  Tufts  College. 

Urbana.  Illinois  :  University  of  Illinois. 

Washington.  D.  C.  :  Catliolic  University  of 
America. 

Washington.  D.  C.  :  Library  of  Congress. 

Washington,  Pennsylvania:  Washington  & 
Jefferson  College. 

Waterville,  Maine  :  Colby  College. 

Wellesley,  Massachusetts :  Wellesley  Col- 
lege. 

Williamstown,  Massachusetts :  Williams 
College. 

Argentine  Republic 
Buenos  Ayres  :  Universidad  Nacional 

AU.STKIA-HlNGAKV 

Budapest :  University  of  Budapest. 
Cracow  :  University  of  Cracow. 
Innsbruck;  University  of  Innsbruck. 
Prague  :  University  of  Prague. 
Vienna  :  University  of  Vienna. 

Australia 
Melbourne  :  University  of  Melbourne. 
.Sydney:  University  of  Sydney. 

Belgium 
Brussels  :  University  of  Brussels. 
Liege  :  University  of  Liege. 

Brazil 

Rio  de  Janeiro  :  Bibliotheca  Nacional. 

Canada 
Kingston  :  Queen's  University. 
Montreal :  McGill  University. 
Toronto:  Knox  College. 
Toronto  :  University  of  Toronto. 

Chile 

Santiago  :  University  of  Chile. 

China 

Peking :  University  of  Peking. 

Denmark 

Copenhagen  :  University  of  Copenhagen. 
Egypt 

Cairo :  Vice-Regal  Library. 

England 

Birmingham  :  University  of  Birmingham. 
Cambridge:  Cambridge  L^niversity. 


Leeds  :  University  of  Leeds. 
Liverpool:  University  of  Liverpool. 
London:  British  Museum. 
Manchester:  John  Rylands  Library. 
Manchester  :  University  of  .Manchester. 
O.xford :  Bodleian  Library. 

Finland 

Helsingfors  :  University  of  Helsingfors. 
France 

Bordeaux  :  University  of  Bordeaux. 
Grenoble  :  University  of  Grenoble. 
Lille  :  University  of  Lille. 
Lyons  :  University  of  Lyons. 
Montpellier  :  University  of  Montpellier. 
Paris :  Biblioth^que  Nationale. 
Paris  :  University  of  Paris. 
Toulouse  :  University  of  Toulouse. 

Germany 
Berlin :  Royal  Library. 
Bonn  :  University  of  Bonn. 
Breslau  :  University  of  Breslau. 
Erlangen:  University  of  Erlangen. 
Freiburg :  University  of  Freiburg. 
Giessen  :  University  of  Giessen. 
Goettingen  :  L'niversity  of  Goettingen. 
Greifswald  :  University  of  Greifswald. 
Halle  :  University  of  Halle. 
Heidelberg  :  University  of  Heidelberg. 
Jena:  University  of  Jena. 
Kiel :  University  of  Kiel. 
Koenigsberg  :  University  of  Koenigsberj 
Leipzig:  University  of  Leipzig. 
Marburg  :  University  of  Marburg. 
Muenster:  University  of  Muenster. 
Munich :  Royal  Library. 
Rostock  :  University  of  Rostock. 
Strassburg  :  University  of  Strassburg. 
Tuebingen  :  University  of  Tuebingen. 
Wuerzburg  :  University  <if  Wuerzburg. 

Greece 
Athens  :  University  of  Athens. 

Holland 
Amsterdam  :  Vrije  University. 
Groningen  :  University  of  Groningen. 
Leyden  :  University  of  Leyden. 
Utrecht :  University  of  Utrefht. 

India 

Calcutta  :  University  of  Calcutta. 
Lahore  :  Punjab  University. 


86 


APPENDIX 


Ireland 

Dublin  :  National  Library  of  Ireland. 
Dublin  :  Trinity  College. 

Italy 

Bologna:  University  of  Bologna. 
Naples  :  University  of  Naples. 
Rome:  American  Academy  in  Rome  (Li- 
brary of  the  School  of  Classical  Studies). 
Rome  :  British  School  at  Rome. 
Rome :  Vatican  Library. 
Turin:  University  of  Turin. 

Japan 

Kyoto :  Kyoto  University. 
Tokyo  :  University  of  Tokyo. 
Tokyo :  Waseda  College. 

Mexico 

Mexico  City:  Biblioteca  Nacional. 

NORV^AY 

Christiania  :  LIniversity  of  Christiania. 
Peru 

Lima  :  University  of  Lima. 


Russia 

Dorpat :  Imperial  University. 

Moscow :  Imperial  University. 

St.  Petersburg:  Imperial  University. 

Scotland 
Aberdeen  :  Aberdeen  University. 
Edinburgh  :  Edinburgh  University. 
Glasgow  :  Glasgow  University. 
St.  Andrews  :  University  of  St.  Andrews. 

Spain 

Barcelona  :  University  of  Barcelona. 
Madrid  :  University  of  Madrid. 

Sweden 
Lund  :  University  of  Lund. 
Upsala  :  University  of  Upsala. 

Switzerland 
Basel :  University  of  Basel. 
Zurich  :  University  of  Zurich. 

Syria 

Beirut :  American  College. 

Turkey 
Constantinople  :  Robert  College. 
Wales 

Aberystwyth  :  National  Library  of  Wales. 
Lampeter  :  St.  David's  College. 


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Makes  clear  the  artistic  and  psychological  principles  underlying  Greek  art,  especially 
sculpture,  which  is  treated  as  a  characteristic  manifestation  of  the  Greek  spirit,  a  devel- 
opment parallel  to  that  of  Greek  literature  and  religion.  While  there  are  many  hand- 
books of  Greek  archaeology,  this  volume  holds  a  unique  place. 

Illxistratfd,  cloth,  $3.3^;  postpaid,  $2.46 

GREEK  ARCHITECTURE 

By  ALLAN  MARQUAND,  Ph.D.,  L.H.D.,  Professor  of  Art  and  Archaeology 
in  Princeton  University. 

Professor  Marquand,  in  this  interesting  and  scholarly  volume,  passes  from  the  mate- 
rials of  construction  to  the  architectural  forms  and  decorations  of  the  buildings  of 
Greece,  and  lastly,  to  its  monuments.  Nearly  four  hundred  illustrations  assist  the 
reader  in  a  clear  understanding  of  the  subject. 

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GREEK  SCULPTURE 

By  ERNEST  A.  GARDNER,  M.A.,  Professor  of  Archaeology  in  University 
College,  London. 

A  comprehensive  outline  of  our  present  knowledge  of  Greek  sculpture,  distinguishing 
the  different  schools  and  periods,  and  showing  the  development  of  each.  This  volume, 
fully  illustrated,  fills  an  important  gap  and  is  widely  used  as  a  text-book. 

Cloth,  $2. so;  postpaid,  $2.6y 

GREEK  CONSTITUTIONAL  HISTORY 

By  A.  H.  J.  GREKNIDGE,  M.A.,  Late  Lecturer  in  Hertford  College  and  Brase- 
nose  College,  Oxford. 

Most  authors  in  writing  of  Greek  History  emphasize  the  structure  of  the  constitutions  ; 
Mr.  Greenidge  lays  particular  stress  upon  the  workings  of  these  constitutions.  With 
this  purpose  ever  in  view,  he  treats  of  the  development  of  Greek  public  law,  distinguish- 
ing the  different  types  of  states  as  they  appear. 

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GREEK  ATHLETIC  SPORTS  AND  FESTIVALS 

By  E.  NORMAN  GARDINER,  M.A.,  Sometime  Classical  Exhibitioner  of  Christ 
Church  College,  Oxford. 

With  more  than  two  hundred  illustrations  from  contemporary  art,  and  bright  descrip- 
tive text,  this  work  proves  of  equal  interest  to  the  general  reader  and  to  the  student  of 
the  past.  Many  of  the  problems  with  wliich  it  deals  —  the  place  of  physical  training, 
games,  athletics,  in  daily  and  national  life — -are  found  to  be  as  real  at  the  present  time 
as  they  were  in  the  far-off  days  of  Greece. 

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ATHENS  AND  ITS  MONUMENTS 

By  CHARLES  HEALD  WELLER,  of  the  University  of  Iowa. 

The  interest  of  Athens  is  perennial,  and  the  progress  of  research  is  constantly  enlarg- 
ing our  knowledge.  This  book  embodies  the  results  of  many  years  of  study  and  of 
direct  observation  during  different  periods  of  residence  in  Athens.  It  presents  in  con- 
cise and  readable  form  a  description  of  the  ancient  city  in  the  light  of  the  most  recent 
investigations.  It  will  enable  the  reader  to  obtain  a  bird's-eye  view  of  the  most 
important  sites  and  buildings  known  from  the  remains  or  from  the  Greek  literature. 
Profusely  illustrated  with  Half-tones  and  Line  Engravings. 

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Handbooks  of  Archaeology  and  Antiquities  —  Continued 


THE  DESTRUCTION  OF  ANCIENT  ROME 

By  RODOLFO  LANCIANI.  D.C.L..  Oxford;  LL.D.,  Harvard;  Professor  of 
Ancient  Topography  in  the  University  of  Rome. 

Rome,  the  fate  of  her  buildings  and  masterpieces  of  art,  is  tlie  subject  of  this  profusely 
illustrated  volume.  Professor  Lanciani  gives  us  vivid  pictures  of  the  Eternal  City  at 
the  close  of  the  different  periods  of  history. 

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ROMAN  FESTIVALS 

By  W.  WARDE  FOWLER.  M.A.,  Fellow  and  Sub-Rector  of  Lincoln  College, 
Oxford. 

This  book  covers  in  a  concise  form  almost  all  phases  of  the  public  worship  of  the 
Roman  state,  as  well  as  certain  ceremonies  which,  strictly  speaking,  lay  outside  that 
public  worship.  It  will  be  found  very  useful  to  students  of  Roman  literature  and  his- 
tory as  well  as  to  students  of  anthropology  and  the  history  of  religion. 

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ROMAN  PUBLIC  LIFE 

By  A.  H.  J.  GREENIDGE,  Late  Lecturer  in  Hertford  College  and  Brasenose 
College,  Oxford. 

The  growth  of  the  Roman  constitution  and  its  working  during  the  developed  Republic 
and  the  Principate  is  the  subject  which  Mr.  Greenidge  here  set  for  himself.  All  im- 
portant aspects  of  public  life,  municipal  and  provincial,  are  treated  so  as  to  reveal  the 
political  genius  of  the  Romans  in  connection  with  the  chief  problems  of  administration. 

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MONUMENTS  OF  CHRISTIAN  ROME 

By  ARTHUR  L.  FROTHINGHAM.  Ph  D.,  Sometime  Associate  Director  of  the 
American  School  of  Classical  Studies  in  Rome,  and  formerly  Professor  of  Archae- 
ology and  Ancient  History  in  Princeton  University. 

''The  learned  author  reviews  the  monuments  of  Rome  during  the  ten  centuries  from 
Constantine  to  the  Renaissance."  "The  plan  of  the  volume  is  simple  and  admirable. 
The  first  part  comprises  a  historical  sketch ;  the  second,  a  classification  of  the  monu- 
ments."—  T/te  Outlook. 

Political,  social,  and  religious  facts  are  co-ordinated  with  the  history  of  art,  so  as  to 
form  a  single  picture.    The  volume  is  pronounced  "a  credit  to  American  scholarship." 

Cloth,  $3.2S;  postpaid,  $2.4^ 

MONUMENTS  OF  THE  EARLY  CHURCH 

By  WALTER  LOWRIE,  M.A.,  Late  Fellow  of  the  American  School  of  Classical 
Studies  in  Rome,  Rector  of  St.  Paul's  Church,  Rome. 

Nearly  two  hundred  photographs  and  drawings  of  the  most  representative  monumental 
remains  of  Christian  antiquity,  accompanied  by  detailed  expositions,  make  this  volume 
replete  with  interest  for  the  general  reader  and  at  the  same  time  useful  as  a  hand-book 
for  the  student  of  Christian  archaeology  in  all  its  branches. 

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